A Visitor from Afar
by Stryker20
Summary: Tails is sent on recon to discover Robotniks plans, but finds more, or rather someone, he didn't bargin on, how will this stranger affect the Freedom Fighters? ch 20 now up, and its a dozy!
1. Ch 1 The Arrival

Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any and all affiliated characters. They are owned by Sega (Though it might be Nintendo now) and Archie Comics, all objects and items related to Sonic the Hedgehog, are their property, and claim no responsibility for the content of this fan-made story. The plot of this story alone, and any characters introduced by the author that have not made an appearance in either the comic series or video game series are owned by the author and should not be duplicated by others without the written permission of the author.

(Phew) that's a long disclaimer, but since this is my first fanfic, I don't wanna get in shit. Anyways now that I got the legal crap out of the way; I hope you enjoy the story and if you like what I wrote please R&R(read & review), if you feel the alternative, don't hesitate to tell me what I did wrong, I need to learn too right? P.S. I use the British spellings like 'colour' since I live in Canada, so no need to comment on that.

* * *

**A Visitor From Afar**

Chapter 1: The Arrival

Robotropolis; a vile, polluted city of metal and machines and the base of operations for the cruelest being to have ever walked the face of Mobius; Doctor Ivo Robotnik. The one and only goal of this bloated overlord is to see every living thing on the face of the planet transformed into his robotic slaves and turn the planet into his own private cesspool of waste and death. Of course the city was not always like this, during the reign of King Maxamilon Acorn, then called Mobotropolis; the place was a paradise, one where nature and technology co-existed perfectly. But sadly, after the former warlord Julian Kintobor overthrew the king and changed his name to Doctor Robotnik, it has since fallen into disrepair, and every aspect of the former beautiful city has been directed towards the production of war machines, and robots.

Not all hope was lost however; some of the inhabitants of the former Mobotropolis escaped the mad doctor's drones and escaped to a safe haven called Knothole Village. The Village was created during the past war with the humans, who called themselves Overlanders. This safe haven served as a refugee from the tin-plated tyrant and in time, the Freedom Fighters; a small band of Mobians who opposed the mad dictator made a stand from this hidden village. They fought valiantly against Robotnik for years trying to end his cruel reign. The Freedom Fighters, led by Princess Sally Acorn, was aided by many others but the major players in the fight were Antoine D'Coolette, supposedly Sally's body guard; Rotor the Walrus, the mechanical genius behind the Freedom Fighters sophisticated, non-lethal, arsenal; Bunnie Rabbot, part rabbit, part machine, but all heart; Miles 'Tails' Prower, the youngest by far, but possesses a tremendous potential; and of course the greatest hero on the planet(if only in his own mind) and also the fastest living thing alive, Sonic the Hedgehog. Robotnik endlessly toiled and experimented with ways to put an end to these meddlesome rabble-rousers; and this day was no exception…

"SNIVELY!" bellowed the overweight-overlord. A door behind Robotnik opened with a muffled whooshing noise as an obviously intimidated set of eyes peered cautiously around the corner, afraid to expose his entire body, and ready to bolt for it the instant it was needed.

"Y-Yes sir?" the small figure whimpered, barely able to be heard.

"Get over here now you cowardly worm!" Robotnik growled as he turned his head to the side a little, hands on his hips, not even trying to make eye contact with the puny assistant. Like a scared puppy Snively slowly crept around the corner, still ready to dash out the door if things got ugly, like they no doubt would, he thought. As he came around the corner his distinctively long nose was the first thing to completely round the corner, followed by a small, trembling and nervous body. Snively never took his eyes off the round figure of Robotnik as he almost tip-toed ever closer, still in fear that Robotnik was still furious with him after he had tried to take charge of Robotropolis after Robotnik had taken that unfortunate, but brief trip to the Void. He knew full well his Uncle would never let him live that down. Since Robotnik's last defeat, he had locked himself away in this stuffy old laboratory. Snively thought it strange that his Uncle had come to this particular laboratory of all place's though. After all, this particular lab was not a very high security facility compared to the other labs within the fortress, nor, from what he could remember, did it house anything very special. Still that was of little importance at the moment, what ever Robotnik had been working on here, he was prepared to reveal it, and Snively had a feeling in the pit of his stomach, that whatever it was , nothing good was going to come from it.

Snively was surprised Robotnik had done nothing to him as he finally walked beside his bloated master, it seemed as though Robotnik hadn't even cared about how long it had taken Snively to cautiously walk towards him in the least. _"He must be very focused on something else if he's this distracted."_ thought the cowardly nephew. "Yes, Lord Robotnik? What is it?" Snively said, surprising himself by how much his voice trembled in fear.

"Do you remember the Void experiments Snively?" Robotnik asked in a surprisingly calm and serious tone. Snively knew exactly which experiment Robotnik was referring to; the one where Sonic the Hedgehog's Uncle Chuck, who had been robotisized during the coup, somehow regained his free will after an experiment went haywire and ended up sending Robotnik into the Void. The very same dimensional rift to which Robotnik banished King Acorn at the start of his revolution. Of course in Robotnik's absence, Snively donned his uncle's uniform, a few XXXL sizes smaller, and tried to destroy the Freedom Fighters and claim Mobius for himself.

Snively knew his uncle could hold a grudge like no other, so he only naturally assumed Robotnik had devised some new punishment for his disloyalty. Of course by now Snively noticed that Robotnik was staring at him, expecting a response. Luckily Snively had placed one hand under his chin to make it look like he was struggling to remember while his thoughts had drifted off to that unkind memory. "Umm… yes sir, why?" Snively asked hoping that Robotnik was leading the conversation in a different direction from what the one he was dreading.

Robotnik smiled in his usual, evil manner, the way that usually told Snively he had cooked something **very** devilish up._ "Which also means that this meeting isn't about me!"_ Snively thought as he let out the air he had been holding and sighed in relief.

"As you remember Snively, last time we were testing the possibility of sending and retrieving items from the zone in this lab. Of course we never got to finish the test because of a certain miss-wiring problem. I have, however, since corrected the problem had have already run a few simple tests." Robotnik chortled.

Snively, now feeling a little more bold now that he knew it wasn't his fat on the fryer decided to press the conversation "Yes, and what were the results Doctor Robotnik?" he asked a little curious to boot now.

"Instead of sending one of those pesky robotic Mobians, and risk freeing their minds; I decided to send in some fully robotic probes. I sent the probes into the Void without any difficulty, but when I tried to retrieve them they did not seem to return at first. I activated their homing devises, and soon learned they had indeed left the zone, but some were nearly 12 Km outside of the city!" Robotnik said with a look of knowing bewilderment on his face.

Snively's eye's opened wide to this statement. "But sir if the experiment was anything like the first one, shouldn't they have reappeared through the Void's gateway?"

Robotnik smiled, already knowing the answer to that question. "That is what I was wondering myself for a time, but then I realized something that I had changed from the first experiment. The probes I had sent into the Void possessed self-return mechanisms built into them. Thus when they activated them they were not actually exiting through the Gateway; and therefore were able to appear randomly across a wide range. It would seem that I had inadvertently discovered that the Void has teleportation abilities!" Robotnik glowered wickedly as he turned to his nephew. "Think of it Snively, I could teleport legions of Swatbots anywhere I wanted, Mercia, Downunda, the Floating island…" he paused a moment savoring the next words for himself; speaking the words yery slowly for emphasis. ", right smack dab in the middle of Knothole." He chuckled cruelly.

Snively couldn't believe his ears, the thought of being able to send endless reinforcements into battle, having them appear in the middle of their camps, completely unawares. Such an advantage would finally end those pesky fur-balls' rebellion once and for all! "How soon before we can begin, my Lord?" Snively sounded like a child who had just been given a brand new toy, and he was very eager to play with it.

Robotnik only sighed as Snively stopped bouncing around with glee. "It's not ready yet, nit-wit, there is still a few more tests I need to run. Plus I must figure out a way to ensure the Swatbots appear where they are supposed to. Now, go fetch a Swatbot and bring it here! I wish to run a test with something bigger then those worthless probes, and to see if my new guidance system will work." Robotnik cackled to himself at his own brilliance, as Snively excitedly raced out the door to retrieve a Swatbot. "Not even the Hedgehog can escape me this time… after all he can't outrun something that he can't know is there… until it appears in right in front of him!" the mad doctor let out another howling fit of laughter, one that was clearly audible throughout much of Robotnik's fortress headquarters. In fact it carried so well that several levels below him a familiar vulpine crawling though the air-ducts could clearly make it out.

The small fox gasped in surprise; pausing a moment. "Well 'Aunt' Sally said go find out what blubber-bolts was up to, might as well find out right from the horses mouth." Tails whispered to himself as he took a right through the maze of ducts and continued to crawl quietly through the ducts as he headed towards still bellowing voice voice.

* * *

Meanwhile outside….

"All right Sal, he's in." said a blue figure staying within the shadows so as to not be spotted. The figure backed away form an open air duct as he peered around the corner into the empty alleyway. As his face rounded the corner what little light was available in the city illuminated the well known face of Sonic the Hedgehog. Seeing nothing he returned his face from around the corner and raised his left arm to his mouth. "So far so good, we haven't been spotted yet." He said into his wrist communicator.

"Good work Sonic." Replied the hollow and distorted voice of Sally Acorn. _"Stupid microphone, when is Rotor going to update this hunk'o junk so he can hear their voices properly?"_ he thought. "Just remember the plan hot shot, you're to stay **out** of sight, and distract the Swatbots incase Tails blows his cover. No heroic." Sally said over the communicator.

"Chill Sal, he'll be fine. After all he learned everything he knows from the best there is." Sonic boasted pointing his thumb towards himself.

Sonic chuckled as he heard a faint groan come from Sally before she replied, "That's what I'm worried about." Sonic checked to see if the alley way was clear again. Seeing that it was all clear, he burst off in a blast of speed that would have been too fast for any bots' that weren't paying attention to notice him. _"Of course…"_ Sonic thought _", I doubt any bots that **were** pay'n attention wouldn't have noticed this speed demon anyways."_ He smiled, feeling a wave of over confidence flow over him, but it was short lived. He came screeching to halt near an old building and lay low near a pile of fallen bricks. Even if he could do this job by himself, and do it a lot faster, he still had a job to do; especially with his little buddy on the line. Groan "This is going to be a long wait." He grumbled to himself.

* * *

Back inside Robotnik's fortress…. 

Snively had returned with a Swatbot in tow; the large, heavy machine making loud metallic clanking noises as it approach its master. "Reporting-as-ordered-oh-lord-of-lard." The swatbot stated in its robotic, monotone voice giving a crisp salute, clanking its metal gauntlet against its equally metal, dome-topped head.

"Swatbot 3-5-6-8, deactivate for upgrade." Robotnik ordered. In response to the voice command the swatbot's optic sensor winked out as the rest of the robot deactivated, slumping over a little. Robotnik walked around to the back of the swatbot and opened a small maintenance hatch in the small of the swatbots back. He pulled out the guidance unit and expertly attached it within a matter of minutes.

Snively had to hand it to his uncle, he was and excellent mechanic and engineer, if not a little insane. Robotnik pulled out a few tools and within minutes the device was securely attached inside the robot and functioning properly. With a satisfied chuckle Robotnik closed the hatch and backed away. "Swatbot, reactivate." He commanded. In sync the robot beeped and booped back to life, correcting its posture automatically. "Report status Swatbot." Robotnik ordered. "Upgrade-detected-and-functioning-properly." The Swatbot chimed back.

"Excellent! Come wretched assistant." Robotnik snorted as he turned around and headed to a small door in the back of the room.

"But, Sir, aren't we going watch?" Snively asked bewildered by his uncle.

"Yes you dolt, but after the last time we tried this I got sent to the Void, this time we shall watch from the safety of this observation room." Robotnik shouted, visibly irritated. Snively shrugged and walked over to the room. As he got there however there seemed to be something wrong. The room was too small! In fact it seemed a bit too small to even fit Robotnik alone.

"Um, Sir, there doesn't appear to be much room in there for me." Snively said as he stared at the diminutive room.

"I designed this room to keep **me** safe, I wasn't anticipating having company." Robotnik replied sarcastically. "But if you would rather stay out there where something might happen…." He trailed off as he tauntingly reached for the door switch. Snively shrieked in fear and bolted inside. Robotnik chuckled to himself as he activated the door, sealing them off from the lab room. He then pushed a different button and a metal panel slid up revealing a window and the room beyond. Fortunately for Snively there was a decent amount of space to the side of the room where Snively would not get squished, however it meant not having a very good view of things. Thus he was forced to lean over across some of the control panels, and hang dangerously close to that spare tire of his uncles. Robotnik hardly noticed as he poured all of his attention to the task at hand. He reached down and hit a button; slowly a heavy door slowly slid apart across the room. Beyond the door loomed the swirling vortex of the Void. As the door opened wider the void began sucking anything that wasn't securely tied down into the great vortex. Papers, dirt, any lazily strewn about tools began to be pulled inside, but because of the swatbots weight it hardly moved.

"Swatbot, enter the Void." He commanded. The swatbot heeded the order barely lifting its heavy metal foot off the floor before the vortex swept it off its feet and pulled it within the Void. Robotnik hit the same button as before and the Voids heavy doors closed in response. "As you can see Snively," he said pointing to a monitor on the control panel. ", this telemetry says that the swatbot is in the Void, and more importantly, that all is operating properly." Robotnik leaned his girth forward as he spoke into a microphone. "Prepare to activate self-return unit." He ordered into the microphone. The Swatbot replied dryly as Robotnik began a count down. 10-9-8…"

As the count down neared ever closer neared zero, the main door to the lab whooshed open suddenly. From around the corner a robotic voice could be heard shouting and cursing at something else. Suddenly Crabmeat, one of Robotnik's early 'Badniks clanked into the room holding what appeared to be a squared off light bulb. "Give that back you poor excuse for a side dish!" yelled a mechanical monkey as it too leaped into the room.

"Why Coconuts, that Christmas light looks good in your head!" laughed the robotic crab waving its claws, and Coconuts light bulb in the air. Normally the squared off light bulb sat atop the mechanical monkey's head, but instead glowing atop his head, in a bright green, was an old Christmas light that Crabmeat had found on the streets and had swapped for Coconuts real light as a practical joke.

"Why You!" Cocunuts' yelled as he pulled out an exploding coconut from the replicator on the back of his metallic body.

"7-6-5…"

Coconut threw the coconut at the offending crab, but the robot simply ducked as the explosive passed over him harmlessly. "Nah-nah, can't ya hit me? No wonder I'm the masters' favorite!" Steam started shooting out of the angry simians ears at that statement and whipped another coconut, this time the projectile passed in front of the glass window Robotnik and Snively were sitting behind and exploding off to the left somewhere destroying some miscellaneous equipment.

"What!" Robotnik shouted as he stood up, in the process smearing Snively against the glass; now resembling a bug who just hit a windshield. "What are those moronic machines doing in there?" he shouted, furious as hell.

"4-3-2…"

Suddenly Crabmeat, trying to dodge the incoming grenades passes in front of a large machine; resembling a giant laser cannon, as a coconut wizzes by, narrowly missing him. The grenade did not, however, fail to miss the controls of the machine. An alarm sounds as the doors to the zone of silence open rapidly. The machine begins humming loudly and grew ever louder as a static field could be felt building while the devise built up a massive electrical charge. Blue-white light began to gather at the tip of the machines muzzle. Coconut and Crabmeat had long since stopped fighting and were holding each other, shaking in fear of what was about to happen.

Just as the countdown reached "0'' the large machine discharges the blast into the zone with a brilliant flash of light and a deafening noise. The blast was so bright it even managed to find its way inside the air ducts to where Tails, now closing in on the doctor's position, and beyond all the way to the vents on the outer wall of the fortress. It blinded him for a moment and forcing him to close his eyes and cover his ears from the massive noise. His scream of surprise was completely inaudible compared to the noise of the cannon, and thus he remained undiscovered.

Even Sonic the Hedgehog, waiting outside, could see and hear the muffled effects of the blast from within the fortress. He had no clue as to what just happened, and since he needed to maintain radio silence, all he could do was wait and hope that nothing had happened to Tails.

As the blinding light faded away, Robotnik, Snively still pressed against the glass, rubbed their eyes vigorously to clear their vision from all the stars flying about in their eyes. When Robotnik stopped rubbing his eyes and looked out the window, he first saw the two cowering robots, but what really caught his eye, was the strange figure lying on the ground before the now shut doors of the Void Gateway.

Lying there unconscious on the floor lay the prone body of a green lizard creature, it looked almost human; except the head. As he stared in disbelief the creature began to stir, apparently waking up. The creature picked its chest up off the floor a little, trying to give itself a better view of the strange surroundings. The creature groaned as it rubbed its head. Robotnik noticed the creature had a large, Mohawk-like frill which ran from the creatures' forehead, and down its spine ending where the neck meet the shoulders. The skin between the frills' spikes being the same green colour as its body, but the boney spikes that gave the frill its shape were a golden yellow colour. The creatures face had a large muzzle extending out, having a distinct reptilian look to it, almost dragon-like. Its red eyes glanced around the room rapidly, obviously bewildered and confused by its surroundings, yet its eyes very wavered in fear, but a very stern and focused look about them. Standing up off the cold metal floor, Robotnik could now see more of what this strange creature looked like. The legs, resembling more the hind legs of many of the non-sentient life forms on this rock, were very bizarre to the Doctors way of thinking; most Mobians possessed a more human legs structure.

Its throat, a pure white colour, looked as though the underbelly colouring of the creature covered the chest down to about midway down its long, slender tail. The tail itself had a similar frill on the tip of it as on the top of its head, though much smaller. But what really had Robotnik really thrown of his wits was that this creature wore battle armor! Not a full body suit, but its chest, stomach, forearms, shins, and thighs were covered in a tough, polished metal armor. Its head had a helmet on that covered its forehead, and cheeks with an elegant curve on the under side of the helmet giving it an almost Spartan look to it. Shoulder plates curved up from the shoulder joint and instilled an intimidating air about the creature.

Robotnik finally composing himself after the initial shock reached down to the microphone and yelled into it. "Don't just cower there you Mecha-Morons capture that intruder." He shouted at Coconuts and Crabmeat. The two jumped off each other and prepared to attack. The creature could apparently understand them since it took up a defensive posture. Using its' right hand it reached over to its' left hip and drew a sword from its scabbard and by shrugging its' left shoulder in such a way the strap that was holding a circular shield fell from the shoulder and, sliding along the length of the arm locked onto the armored plate on the creatures forearm. It took up a new fighting stance as the two bots gave each other a look of uncertainty. Robotnik almost laughed out loud at the sight.

_"To think, that creature actually that believes that it stands a chance against my robots with such primitive weapons?"_ he lightly chuckled at this and stood straighter, preparing himself for a short, one-sided fight.

Crabmeat was the first to charge the creature. Using its extendable arms he swung his right claw out trying to club the creature with its claw. The creature simply raised its shield and blocked the claw; absorbing the impact with ease. Then the left claw swung in.

It countered by bringing its' shield across it's body and blocked again, but before Crabmeat could pull the claw back the Lizard swung the glistening sword high over its head down at the metallic arm; dissecting it easily. The severed claw fell heavily to the floor with a loud crash.

Crabmeat was deeply distressed by this, flinging its other claw at the creature in retaliation. Again the creature blocked, but instead of absorbing the force with its arm, it instead swung the shielded arm at the claw, meeting the force head on, sending it flying away. After batting the claw away, the creature leapt forward, racing for the robots diminutive body. By knocking away his only remaining arm, Crabmeat had no chance of blocking the sword as it swung upwards at the body of the small crab slicing into the lower part of the bot, cutting upwards. The sword dug in; leaving a massive gouge in the small bot, now nothing more then scrap metal. The body collapsed to the floor, leaking black oil from severed hoses. Sparks flashed as its electrical systems failed. The creature stood there for a moment, baffled, as it stared at the metal innards of the robot.

Coconut, recovering from his shock reached to his back and whipped one of his exploding coconuts at the creature. At the last minute the creature saw the incoming coconut, and crouched behind the protection of its shield. The grenade landed dead center of shield, right on target, exploding with a great boom, a great cloud of black smoke engulfing where it had exploded. Coconuts pumped his fist in triumph and shrieked out "Bulls' eye!"

He turned around, expectanting to see the proud face of his master for destroying the intruder. But upon seeing his master, his expression was not of evil delight, but more of shock and bewilderment… at something behind him, no less. Coconuts' started to turn around when his shoulder bumped into something. His face drops as he looks straight up. There, towering over the small monkey stood the intruder.

"_Ye cats, he's like 6 feet tall!"_ thought the monkey as every servo in his body froze in fear.

"Bet you thought that was pretty funny; didn't ya." The creature said in a very irritated, and obviously male voice. Coconuts jumped back and was about to pull out another coconut, but before he could, the creatures sword flashed across the robot. At first it looked like nothing had happened, but then, gravity took over… Coconuts body slide off his hips from the left shoulder to the opposite hip. His body had been cut clean in half from shoulder to hip! As for the rest of the body that remained standing, it finally succumbed to gravity, buckling at the knees; falling to the floor with a loud metallic clank. Just like before the creature stared at the sparking circuitry with a puzzled look on its face.

By now Robotnik was still slack jawed at the sight of two of his 'Badniks sliced in half by just one creature. Snively, equally baffled, reached down from his implanted position on the window and pushed the security button. Within seconds of the buttons activation, a dozen or more Swatbots flooded into the room; weapons trained on the creature. The creature whirled around to face these new threats, these new enemies were almost the same size as himself; so he considered them more of a threat then those two toys he had just kicked around.

"Set weapons to stun, I want that creature alive!" Bellowed Robotnik over the speaker. With that all of the Swatbots opened fire. The creature managed to block and dodge many of the initial shots, but the opponent's never relented firing long enough to allow him to move in and attack. A lucky shot managed to hit the exposed skin of the creature's right leg. He yelled in pain as several more blasts sneak past his guard and connect with the unarmored skin. The shots that did hit the armor deflected off the armor without making so much as a dent or even a scorch mark. After receiving 4 or 5 clean hits the creature collapsed to the ground unconscious. _"Ugh… can't go… like this…"_ he groaned as the darkness slowly takes him.

Darkness, he could hardly feel anything, he tried to move but couldn't. _"Where am I? What happened?_" "Ohhh…" he moaned, focusing his racked mind to remember. _"Last thing I remember…"_ he thought hard, searching for the answer in his head, but he couldn't seem to find it. Then, images rapidly flashed before his minds eye: dozens of metal clad warriors… they opened fire; beams of light spewed out of their arms… then, nothing. _"I must have been hit, but where am 1 now?"_ As if trying to provide him an answer a sudden sharp pain brings him out of the hazy near conscious state he had been drifting in a moment before; awakening him to the cold, harsh reality.

"Argh!" he yelled as the pain stirred him rudely awake. He tried to get move, but found that his arms and legs were tied down fast. He opened his eye, but he could see nothing, just a black darkness. He tried to struggle a little to try and loosen the grip of the bonds, but to no avail. He quickly looked around again, but still saw nothing but darkness, every direction he looked was nothing but black nothing. Another sharp pain coursed through his entire body. "Argh!" he yelled again, louder this time; arching his back off the cold metal, the pain felt worse then the first time.

"Ah, he's awake, excellent. Snively, raise the tank." Came a muffled, yet sickeningly familiar voice. With a hissing noise, what the creature could make out as some sort of lid was slowly lifted off of some sort of table. Thus the reason he could see nothing distinguishing before. Light spilled in from surface of the table as the lid was lifted off; eventually lifting off completely. Now the creature could see his surroundings. The lab was square, with various monitors and controls lining the walls of the room. Some movement off to the side caught the creature's attention as it quickly forgot about its surroundings and focused on the new threat. Maneuvering around a workstation console on one side of the room, Robotnik casually waddled in front of the creature.

"Welcome… my boy, you've been given a great honor." Robotnik cooed, malice dripping from his words.

The creature tried to lunge off the table at the fat figure, but came short as the restraints held him fast, the rough edges of the metal restraints digging into his skin, blood dripping down the gashes. The creature, feeling the pain in his wrists looked down at them and realizes that the armored vambraces' had been removed. "What are you talking about?" He replied, hatred filling his words speaking through clenched teeth.

"Why, my boy, we're going to have a nice long talk, and then I'm going to robotisize you and make use of you and your swordsmen-ship skills to destroy that blasted Sonic the Hedgehog once and for all." Robotnik sneered. "And… if you choose not to talk, that's perfectly fine… I've been waiting to use this electric torture rack for some time; and you…" he said jabbing a finger into the creature's armored chest plate to emphasize his point. ", are going to break it in for me… Snively!"

At his masters command Snively turned on the power and sent a quick surge of electricity into the table. The combined screams of the poor creature, as well as Robotnik's maniacal laughter echoed throughout the great empty corridors of the fortress.

* * *

Elsewhere… 

Tails had just about given up trying to find Robotnik after he lost track of his laughing voice, but the sudden cries of pain and laughter, pointed Tails back in the right direction in no time. The tormented screams making Tails crawl all the faster, now with a great urgency in his effort. As for the laughter, it only helped him to locate the fat-man faster. To Tails it seemed like forever before he locate where the screams were emanating from, but in truth it had only taken him about five minutes. When he arrived he looked down through the vent in horror to see Robotnik leaning over the strangest creature he had ever seen in his life; torturing the poor thing without mercy, trying to pump him for information. He couldn't do anything so long as chubby was there so he was forced to listen to the agonizing screams of pain. To Tails relief Robotnik held up one, cold metallic hand, and Snively shut off the power in response.

"My, my, my… that is a very lovely jewel you have there." Robotnik mocked as he reached for the ruby placed in the center of the creatures' armored chest. He casually reached out for the red jewel, and gingerly tried to pluck it off the chest plate; it wouldn't budge. With some forceful pulling, and resorting to using both hands, he finally he managed to yank the red gem from its fastening.

He examined the jewel, set in a golden shielded crest, as the creature weakly, but sternly protested; only to receive a blast of electricity from Snively to reward him for his trouble. "Ummm… not a Chaos Emerald, but still… its something I think I'll hang onto." Robotnik chortled as he plodded over to a cylindrical pedestal, placed the gem on top, and pushed a few buttons on the side of the pedestal.

"Come Snively… we'll return later when this creature decides to speak more then insults." Snively turned away from his station a smug, self-satisfied grin on his face, and walked out of the without looking back. Before Robotnik turned to leave as well he turned back to electrical controls and turned the power knob to minimal voltage. The creature winced in pain from the shocks. "Think of it as an incentive to start talking soon." He laughed as he left the room; the door silently whooshing closed as he left.

The creature was in obvious agony, that much Tails could clearly see, and now that Robotnik was finally gone, he could help the poor thing. He crouched inside the vent so he could bring his foot to bear on the vent cover. A swift kick and the vent crashed to the floor. Tails winced a little, since he had hoped it would just swing free on its hinge, not fall right off and make a lot of noise. _"Still…"_ he thought. _", nobody's responding."_ He quickly hoped out of the vent landing much more quietly the blasted vent cover. The creature was well aware of his presence but the pain was too taxing on him to say anything. Tails bolted over to the control panel and quickly turned off the flow of electricity.

The creatures' large body slumped down, relaxing for the first time since the interrogation had begun. Tails sighed in relief to see that the creature was at lest out of pain now, though still not out of danger. Tails scanned over the control panel, trying to find the restraint release. Before he came across those however Tails did find the tables slant adjuster. He leveled the table off so at least the restraints were no longer digging into his wrists. A few moments later, he found what he was looking for and released the binding grip of the restraints.

The creature slowly sat up rubbing his chaffed wrists sorely. "Who are you?" He managed to say weakly sitting up from the table.

"Call me Tails." He said as he walked up beside the table.

"Thank you, Tails, you can call me Slasher." he said with a courteous bow of his large head. He tried to hop off the table and stand, but his legs gave out underneath him.

"Hey take it easy there." Tails warned as he rushed to creature's side to steady it. "Oof, you're pretty heavy, you know that." Tails groaned trying hard to hold the stranger up, he thought he saw a weak smile slip across Slasher's face, but the face showed far more signs of pain and exhaustion. It wasn't much use trying to hold the creature up, but he did help the creature lie down. Tails couldn't help but be awed at the size of this creature, he was easily as tall as a Swatbot, yet most Mobians never became much taller then about 4 feet, depending on the species of course.

"Ugh… crystal, get me to… the crystal…" Slasher said weakly; it sounded like he was on the verge of passing out. Tails looked to his left and immediately spotted what the creature meant; he also spied some of the creatures belongings as well, like his sword, shield and vambraces, resting against the pedestal. So, it took about a minute of grunting and pulling to pull the strange creature over to the pedestal. Tails propped the creatures arm over his shoulder and tried to help lift him up a bit. Weakly the creature extended its' arm and gently touched the crystal. A strange glow began emanate from the crystal, and slowly that same glow spread across the creatures skin until it cover its' whole body. Tails had to close his eyes form the bright light, and was amazed when the weight of the creature on his shoulder began to shrink down to a more manageable weight.

Tails looked to Slasher's face intending to ask how he had managed to lighten the load like that when his words caught in his throat. The creature had transformed! He was no longer the 6 feet tall, more like 3 foot five now! Plus his skin had changed from a lush, forest green to more of a crimson red, with a light grey belly and throat. His Mohawk frill no longer had skin spanning between the spike's; the golden yellow coloured spikes had also changed to more of a sky-blue colour, and had also shrank down in size. The armor plates, covering most of its body were gone; all that the creature wore was a brown, leather sash with various sorts of pockets along its length, something that reminded Tails of the belt Rotor always wore, except this one was made of leather. The only other things he wore were knee pads, and rectangular shaped gauntlets on his forearms. Tails had no idea why but for some reason the vambraces were unusually thick and on the front of them were two vertical slits. A small metal piece of armor covered the top of his hands. Under that were two black, fingerless gloves. The general appearance of the creature looked the same; the legs still looked the same.

While Tails had been observing this strange occurrence, he failed to notice that Slasher's hand still rested on the jewel, even after he had passed. Unfortunately the limp appendage knocked the jewel over, triggering some sort of pressure alarm. The jem fell from the pedestal and landed on the other side of the pedestal, out of sight of the now frightened Tails.

Sirens and alarms blared off, the noise almost impossible to be heard over; red lights filled the room with the eerie light as Tails looked around nearly in panic. He did keep himself in check however, and using his twin tails, he flew himself up, creature in tow to the vent he which he had entered in.

Outside Sonic could hear the alarms going off as dozens of Swatbots which had been standing guard at the doors piled inside to locate the intruders. _"Uh, Oh…"_

Suddenly Sonic's wrist-communicator began to vibrate; the signal to begin the diversion. "Time ta do it to it!" Sonic shouted as he peeled out of his hiding place causing all hell with the Swatbots. He trashed some of the bots to get their attention and proceeded to confuse the Swatbots by zooming dangerously close then disappearing again with his speed just as the Swatbot reached out to grab him. He kept this up for about five minutes before his communicator started vibrating again; the signal to pull out. With that he pulled out the power ring he had brought and ripped up the pavement as he raced out of the city in a sonic boom.

Meanwhile, in the time Sonic had bought him, Tails had safely made his way out of the city with his unconscious cargo, and brother, were the villagers in for a surprise when he got home! Let alone to mention the medical team…

* * *

Back inside Robotnik's fortress….

"Sir, it appears that meddlesome Freedom Fighter, Tails, somehow infiltrated the base and rescued the creature we were interrogating, sir." Snively reported sadly.

"No matter, Snively…" Robotnik replied, surprisingly calm and collective after losing his prisoner. "Those accursed Freedom Fighters may have stolen my prize, but I believe they left the real treasure behind…" Robotnik laughed as he watched a security video recording. The image showed Tails and Slasher; then all of a sudden as Slasher touched the jewel a blinding white light filled the screen and once the image returned, Tails held Slasher, now transformed. "And when I unlock that crystals' power, not even Sonic the Hedgehog will be able to stop me." Finishing his sentence with his fiendish laughter.

* * *

End Ch 1

Well hope this version of the chapter is better then the first one. Thx to Gail Strafer for pointing out some of my mistakes and suggestions to improve my writing style. I will also be chopping several of the later chapters up so they aren't so freak'n long! Stay tuned for the revised versions of the later chapters. I still need to keep writing the newer chapters so my time available for new updates will be split between that and rewriting the old ones. I need to get a lot of things happening in the next few chapters so don't start throwing things at me because it might be a bit dry for a while. In case anyone was interested, the creature in the story is from a series I created myself, even drew a variety of the characters on my computer.


	2. Ch 2 The Freedom Fighters

Okay, disclaimers and all that legal stuff is on the first chapter and still applies to all following chapters. Just incase anyone reading has a weak stomach, there will be a bit of violence in this and later chapters, nothing big really, just flesh wounds. I'd like to thank anyone who has read my story thus far, whether you reviewed or not doesn't matter, I just hope you enjoy the 'show'. With that taken care of, on with the story….

* * *

**A Visitor from Afar**

**Chapter 2 The Freedom Fighters

* * *

**

The great forest…

A tranquil location, lush with flora and fauna, it stands in stark contrast to the polluted waste land of Robtorpolis. Its massive tree and deceptively rough terrain had long stood as a difficult obstacle for invading armies to pass through; even now against the mechanized hordes of robots sent forth by the most vile of Overlanders to ever roam the planet, Doctor Robotnik. The forest's terrain was surprisingly rugged, littered with hills, valleys and cliffs creating natural choke points; something that gave well organized defenders a crucial edge. The forest canopies were so thick that the thermal energy gathered by the leaves made it impossible to use of infared scanners; the leaves retained the residual heat, even at night. Thus the Freedom Fighters, a rage-tag band of peace-loving Mobians set up their main base of operations in Knothole village, deep within the forest.

The Village itself was home to the many Mobians who had escaped Robotnik and wished to live in safety. The Freedom Fighters headquarters themselves lay within an old limestone cavern embedded within the side of one of the cliff walls of the hidden valley. There, lay nerve center of the Freedom Fighter's activities from which they planned and coordinated their attacks from. The cave itself was wide-spread, having many branching tunnels used as secret tunnels to the forest floor and to the village itself, while other cavernous chambers bore doors and were used as supply rooms, workshops and various other functions that the rebels needed.

One particular room, essentially the nerve center of the entire compound, known simply as the 'War Room' housed the communications monitors, maps, and any other equipment the Freedom Fighters needed to coordinate their attacks. Sitting before the large array of communication equipment and monitors, sat two founding members of the Freedom Fighters, Rotor the Walrus, and Antoine D'Coolette.

Behind them, her blue boots noisily stepping across the cold, hard stone floor; paced the nervous, slender figure of Princess Sally Acorn; leader of the Knothole Freedom Fighters. Across the room from her comrades, casually resting her metal legs on the top of the table, sat the half-robotic rabbit, Bunnie Rabbot. She leaned back in here chair, her mechanical feet resting on the table, aimlessly flicking cards into a small bowl on the table, seemingly calm and collected. Truth be told, she was in just a jumble of nerves as her friend Sally pacing back and forth across the room incessantly.

Bunnie could feel the tension in the room like a thick, murky fog. She could see that even as Antoine and Rotor typed away at their stations that they were just as nervous, though they were at least drowning out their tension by feverishly working at the stations. Sally on the other hand, was a different story; she had no way to channel her anxiety, and as she paced back and forth across the room, Bunnie could imagine a small runt forming in the ground. _"AH think ah best break the tension heah b'fore ole Sally-girl there snaps like a lile' ole twig."_ Bunnie contemplated as she sot for a way to ease her friends' woes. "Sally-girl, ya'll best stop pacin' round like that, or ya'll wear a hole right though the floor." Bunnie said jokingly.

"Oh, sorry Bunnie, guess I'm a little nervous." Sally apologized, smiling warmly after she snapped out of her nervous trance.

"Sal, a little nervous is when Rotor says 'it'll be fine, what could happen?' right before somethin' blows up." Everyone grins at the memory of that incident while Rotor could only groan in embarrassment. "You, Sally-girl, look like ya could jump through the roof at the sound of a pin drop'n." Bunnie added pointing a metal finger at the chipmunk-squirrel hybrid. Sally just stared at the ground contemplating her reply, but Bunnie said it first. "Ya'll can relax 'bout Tails and Sugar' hog, they'll be fine. It's just a lil' ole recon mission after all."

"I know Bunnie, it's just that…" Sally started to reply but was cut off by a voice calling over the communications console. "Alright Sal, he's in." called the badly distorted voice of Sonic the Hedgehog. Sally spun around to face the consoles as she silently sighed in relief. _"Thank goodness, at least they got there alright!"_

"Good Work Sonic." Sally replied, picking up one of the microphones that sat next to the monitors. "Just remember the plan hot shot, you're to stay **out **of sight and distract the Swatbots so Tails can get away incase something goes wrong. No heroics!" Sally said into the mic with a greater emphasis on the last part.

The distorted voice replied shortly, "Chill Sal, he'll be fine, after all, he learned everything he knows from the best!" his voice clearly hinting his boasting.

The others couldn't help but snicker at Sonic's remark, and even more so at the irritated expression on Sally's face. "(sigh) That's what I'm worried about. Sally out." Sally could only groan in frustration at that, Sonic always did have a sizable ego, but his heart was in the right place. But his attitude drove her nuts sometimes, and for the life of her she could not figure out why she still had feelings for him despite it. Sally handed the mic to Antoine, who placed it back on the desk.

"Zo, now we wait, yes?" Antoine asked placing the earphones on his head around his neck as he looked to the princess behind him.

"Yes, Antoine, we wait. It will be awhile before we hear anything from them, so take a break for a bit everyone." Sally replied glancing at the clock hanging on the stone wall.

"Oui, my Preencess, I shall be taking my leave. I need to, how you say… break ze bathroom?" Antoine said rising from his chair only to receive blank stares of confusion from the others.

"Antoine, don't you mean take a bathroom break?" Rotor groaned. "Oui, zat too." Antoine smiled walking out of the War Room oblivious to how ridiculous he just sounded.

"Ugh, one of these days I'm going to get him to say something properly in English." Rotor laughed as he returned to monitoring Robotnik's comm chatter.

"Nah, don't bother none sugar, AH think it's kinda cute." Bunnie smiled flicking another card at the bowl. Rotor and Sally smiled, they knew full well what she meant by that, even if Antoine hadn't noticed yet. Her attraction to 'soldier boy' was fairly obvious to anyone that spent enough time with her; even though Antoine had yet to clue in. Didn't matter much, Bunnie was persistent, she'd get him eventually. "Say, Sally, how's 'bout we play a little cards ta pass the time hon?" Bunnie offered holding the deck of cards in the air.

"You know Bunnie that's a great idea." Sally's face light up at the offer; eager to get her mind off the mission. It didn't help much though as Sally's thoughts raced back to recent events. The Freedom Fighters had Robotnik's tougher creations, a Dynamic 3000 Android. It had been during an attack on a large factory supplying Robotnik with the deadly robots. After a tough fight they managed to destroy the factory, but in a lucky twist of fate the explosion of the one factory, destroyed several others, the ensuing fire devastated a large part Robotropolis' industrial sector. That happened almost two weeks ago. The factories had been rebuilt, yet Robotnik's activates remained quiet; and that told her Robotnik was up to something. Thus the reason for the mission tonight, she had to know what Robotnik was planning, otherwise they'd be caught unawares.

She had been reluctant to send Tails on this mission, to her he was still the little baby kit she had held in her arms so many years ago. But Sonic had made a very good case. Tails solo adventure to Downunda, his visit to the floating island, Fiona Fox, they all showed her that he was a capable fighter, but Sally was still very defensive for the young fox. Even after she relented to at least allow Sonic to officially train Tails in combat she still fought with her maternal instincts for Tails. But from that training Tails was proving to be an excellent scout, like Antoine; though Tails took that a little as and insult. As it turned out, Tails ended up being just the right person for the mission since the air-ducts were too small for anyone else to fit into.

Sally had been so caught up in her thoughts as she played the card game that when Antoine first called her name she hardly noticed. "Preencess!" Antoine yelled.

"Hm… what? Oh, sorry Antoine, what is it?" Sally blushed a little at her lack of attention.

"As I was saying your highness, ze hedgehog iz radioing us. He says he iz returning home." Antoine said a little exasperated from trying to get the princess's attention.

"Really, how long has it been?" Sally asked.

"It's been almost an hour since you started playing your game your highness." Rotor answered. Sally stood there befuddled, had she really lost track of time like that? "Wait… Sonic is returning home? Why's he doing that?" Sally asked as he walked over behind Antoine's station. "Antoine, ask Sonic what he's doing." Sally ordered.

"Sonic, ze preencess, wants to know what you are doing." Antoine spoke into the mic. A moment passed before Sonic replied.

"I'm on my way back to Knothole Ant, I already told you." Sally groaned,

"Sonic," Sally took the mic from Antoine and spoke into it herself. "**Why** are you returning, what happened to Tails?"

There was a moments pause over the comm. channel "I don't know, the alarms went off in Robuttnik's place, so I distracted the Swatbutts like I was supposed to and now I'm** here**…" as Sonics last words played across the speakers he suddenly appeared, unnoticed, behind the huddled mass staring at the monitors before them.

"Sonic, your voice, it has become like ze crystal." Antoine muttered observing that Sonic's muffled voice had suddenly become less garbled at the end of his sentence.

"Uh Ant…" Sonic said tapping his shoe impatiently behind the Mobians.

Everyone hears the tapping of the shoe, and look behind them at the same time in bewilderment. When they all look back everyone nearly jumps out of their skin when they see the blue speed demon standing right behind them… well, almost everyone; Antoine jumped right out of his seat screaming. "**SACRE BLEU!**"

"Geez Sonic, are you trying give us a heart attack or something!" Rotor panted as he tried to calm his nerves, one hand clutching the place on his chest where his heart would be.

"Sorry Rote, couldn't resist." Sonic apologized sheepishly patting him on the back in a friendly 'sorry I scared the pants off you' kind of way.

"Ah do declare, Sugar-hog, I plum near hit the roof from that one." Bunnie added equally as spooked as Rotor.

"Nah, Antoine's the one who hit the roof." Sonic joked pointing to the coyote dangling from one of the over-head rafters cursing away incoherently in French.

Everyone fought hard to control their laughter and restrict themselves to smiles, giggles and snickers, more so not to hurt Antoine's feelings then for any other reason, but their fortitude quickly faded as they all burst into a fit of laughter. Even Sally couldn't resist bursting into laughter, but as the moment faded Sally quickly took charge of the situation in her usual, calm and composed manner.

Ahem Sally coughed clearing her throat, trying to get her composure back. "Bunnie, can you get Antoine down please?" she asked looking over to the partly mechanical rabbit.

"Mah pleasure Sally-girl." Bunnie cheerfully replied as she walked beneath Antoine's perch. While Bunnie attended to Antoine, Sally turned to Sonic with a very serious look on her face. "Sonic, what happened out there?" she asked plainly.

Sonic paused a moment at the question, trying to find the right response. "Well, we got in easy enough, I opened the vent for Tails and he went in. I went and found some cover and waited there for a bit. Then I felt some sorta explosion or something from inside Robuttnik's joint, and let me tell ya it was big! It shook the ground real good." Sonic explained quickly, but before Sally could inquire about the explosion he continued. "A little while later the alarms went off, so I distracted the bots and Tails maked his getaway." He finally answered.

"But… did Tails at least say he was alright? How do you know he wasn't captured?" Sally quickly asked, beginning to sound more and more worried about the young fox.

"Chill Sal, he gave me the signal." Sally let out a sigh of relief at that.

_"At least he wasn't captured while he was inside."_ thought Sally. "But do you know if he got out of the city?" Sally asked getting that panicky look in her eyes again.

"Relax Sal, just before I juiced outta there, Tails gave the second signal he was out of there. As soon as I got the message, I juiced home. Obviously I beat him home, no big surprise; after all, I am the fastest thing alive!" Sonic boasted.

"Hah, you are not zat fast, you over-inflated oaf, and Tails iz not zo slow either." Antoine shouted, as Bunnie gently brought him down from the rafter thanks to Bunnie's extending metal legs. Sonic hardly took notice of Antoine's insult.

"He does have a point Sonic, Tails probably had pretty good head start on you. If he was traveling at full speed all the way home, I doubt you would have gotten here before him." Rotor pointed out.

"If your right Rotor, then why would Tails be traveling so slowly? He loves to go as fast as Sonic, even on his own." Sally asked to know one in particular; in fact the 'mother' in her head was already answering that question with the kind of answers she dreaded. _"Oh god, he could be injured, he could have sprained something, broke a leg…"_ the possibilities raced on and on through her mind like a broken record.

"How's 'bout we call the little sugar and see if he's alright?" Bunnie suggested seeing Sally's blank stare slowly filling with her growing concern.

"Good idea Bunnie. Antoine, pass me the code book." Rotor asked, holding his hand above his shoulder waiting for Antoine to hand him the book. Antoine walked over to the communication station and started rummaging through the mass of books and manuals stacked in the shelf above. Eventually he found the book he was looking for and flipped it open. He flipped back a few pages, and then started running his finger down the list of codes that the Freedom Fighters used for their communication decryptions. Finally his hand stopped on one of the codes as he triumphantly called out "Aha… there iz the code young Prower was using tonight."

The radios the Freedom Fighters used were salvaged from Robotropolis and as such were capable of operating on a variety of frequencies and encryptions. This allowed the Freedom Fighters to use a variety of signals from night to night, and kept unwanted ears from listening on their communications.

Antoine handed the code book to Rotor while still keeping his finger on the specific code. Rotor quickly adjusted his receiver, only taking a matter of seconds for the adjustment, and entered in the encryption codes. "Tails, this is Knothole, do you read, over?" Rotor spoke into the mic. There was a few moments pause as static filled the earphones of the Walrus's headset. Everyone else stood anxiously for Rotor to confirm if he heard anything. For Sally, the minute or so of silence, felt like hours, and every moment that passed by, her hope faded little by little.

Finally Rotor gave a thumps up to his friends gathered behind him, he was receiving a response. "It's Tails, one sec, I'll put him on the speakers." Rotor said happily as he flipped a switch on the console. Sally walked behind Rotor and reached over him to grab the microphone and spoke into it softly. "Tails, it's Sally are you alright?"

Heavy breathing could be heard on the other end of the reception as Tails finally responded. "I'm fine 'Aunt' Sally, I'm in the Great Forest." Tails said sounding very tired and out of breathe.

"Where are you roughly?" Sally asked, distinctly relieved to hear her 'nephews' voice.

"Not far from the hollow stump entrance." Tails replied, this time with less of a pause before responding.

"Glad to hear it Tails. Can you keep us posted next time please?" Sally said, nagging the young kit without even realizing it.

"(Groan) Sorry 'Aunt' Sally, things got so hectic I forgot to call you guys." Tails apologized. "Tails out."

Sally handed Rotor the microphone and spoke to him with an air of command. "Keep an eye on him Rotor, let me know when he gets back."

"Yes your highness." Rotor nodded switching off the main speakers. Sally looked at her beleaguered friends and saw that the evening had been tough on all of them; the stress had been quite unbearable.

This was something they didn't need; they needed a quick distraction; then she had an idea: "Alright guys, how about we go to the kitchen and get a late-night snack?"

"Sounds like a pearl of an idea Sugar, mah tummies a' rumble'n away." Bunnie replied in her interminably cheery southern attitude. Sonic's stomach made a loud gurgling noise in agreement, sealing the deal. As the Freedom Fighters laughed they filed their way out the door and walked down the hallway to the small kitchen.

The only one left in the room was Rotor, still sitting at the communications console. Sally poked her head back through the open doorway looking at Rotor and asked: "Hey Rotor, you want me to get something for you to eat?" she offered politely.

"That's alright Sally, I can't eat before I go to sleep; I end up getting nightmares from it." Rotor confessed as he glanced back at the princess. Sally nodded understandingly and was about to leave when Rotor added something else: "Besides I can't stand chili dogs anymore, and I'm sure Sonic is making those right now." Sally laughed as she bid farewell to Rotor before returning to the kitchen.

A few moments after Sally left Rotor heard Tails calling him through his head phones. "Rotor, you there?" Tails asked.

"Ya Tails, I'm here; what's up?" Rotor replied holding a hand on one of the headphones so he could hear more clearly.

"Rotor, can you have a med-team meet me at the hollow stump entrance?" Rotor's heart stopped for a moment in surprise.

"Tails, are you hurt? What happened?" Rotor asked quickly, leaning on the edge of his chair.

After a moments pause "It's hard to explain, but can you get a med-team out here?" Tails asked. "And… please don't tell 'Aunt Sally, I don't want to worry her." Tails meekly added before cutting out the connection. Rotor pondered his request for a moment. _"Sally, really ought to know, but then again… she was awful nervous before, if she thought Tails was hurt, she might freak." _Rotor pondered a little more, but in the end decided to keep the fox's request, if only for the time being. Rotor nodded his head in affirmation and got up from his chair. He walked over to the phone hanging on the cave wall and dialed in a series of numbers.

A few rings went unanswered and Rotor began to fear that perhaps everyone was asleep for the night at the hospital. To the walrus's relief a frazzled voice finally picked up the other end. "Knothole medical, Nurse Shrew speaking." the gruff tired voice spoke.

"Hi, its Rotor, is Doctor Quack available?" Rotor replied.

"I'm afraid he's asleep right now." Nurse Shrew replied calmly in her raspy voice.

"Could you contact him for me please?" Rotor replied a little disappointed to hear he'd have to wake Dr. Quack up.

"Very well, what should I tell him?" She asked dryly.

"Tell him to have a medical team meet Tails at the hollow stump entrance as soon possible." Rotor replied, grateful to get that out of the way. With that out of the way, Rotor returned to his console to continue to monitor the radio waves.

* * *

Meanwhile… 

Deep within the dark foliage of the Great Forest, a certain twin-tailed fox rested against a large tree trunk. After Sally had contacted Tails, he had found it necessary to take yet another break. This made his fourth break on his return trip. Tails couldn't help it much though, the prone form that lay beside him was far too heavy for him to carry while running. He weighed a lot more then Sonic, even Bunnie's heavy robotic parts seemed light compared to this stranger. Luckily his powerful tails were able to overcome the extra weight nicely, but it still took a lot out of him. By sheer will, and adrenaline Tails had managed to get to Robotropolis' outskirts without taking a break, and he was paying for it now. He had carried others before yes, but not someone so heavy for so long.

Tails was panting hard from his efforts of transporting the still figure lying beside him. The strange creature was completely motionless, breathing, but unconscious; thanks to Dr. Robotnik. _"Poor thing, I wouldn't blame you if you wanted payback later. But just where did you come from?"_ Tails pondered, he couldn't help but stare in intrigue. _"The thing that puzzles me most though is how you transformed after you touched that crystal." _Suddenly a thought crossed the young vulpine's thoughts that caused him to jump to his feet and smack himself on the forehead.

"Holy Abalone, I left that crystal in Robotropolis!" Tails shriek out, a mix of disbelief and a horror clinging to his words. Tails glanced back to the prone figure at his feet. "Sorry buddy, guess we'll have to get that crystal back later." He said, as if the creature could hear him. The creature's body lay in a pool of bright moonlight that gave the surrounding ground an eerie shimmer, but also allowed Tails to take a closer look (relatively speaking) at this stranger. Tails could not make out all the details on the creature, after all it was just moonlight, but he could defiantly see a strange triangular-shaped tattoo just below the creature's eyes and a different one upon its forehead. In his mind, Tails compared the way the creature had looked when he was still tied to that torture rack and now. Tails could tell it was the same creature, its' basic physical appearance looked the same, yet the subtly differences made him look almost, younger…? Tails couldn't understand what made him think that, but it just seemed to make the most sense.

"_There's time to think of that later, right now this guy needs help."_ Tails thought as he observed the creature's breathing looked painful and ragged. Tails carefully grabbed the creature under the arms and dragged him away from the tree he had had been previously resting against. Now that he was free of obstacles, Tails wound his namesakes up and let them unwind like an elastic band. His tails spun around in the oh-so-famous maneuver lifting Tails, and creature in tow, off the ground and into a stable hover. Tails grunted as he lifted the full weight of his passenger into the air. The creature's transformation had lightened the load significantly, but the creature still weighed a great deal nonetheless. Tails found it tough going as he zipped through the trees and under low branches, but his muscular twin-appendages managed to keep going; it was just a matter of time before he reached Knothole.

* * *

At the tunnel entrance… 

Dr. Quack, resident physician for Knothole Village, paced around impatiently within the cramped confines of the well-light secret tunnel. Beside him stood a grey-furred shrew wearing a white apron and a typical nurse's hat bearing a red cross. The shrew watched the nervous duck pace back and forth within the tunnel calmly as she leaned against the cold walls of the tunnel. "Where is that boy?" Dr. Quack rhetorically asked, not really directing his question at the nurse beside him.

It had been only five minutes ago that he had been asleep and cozy in his bed, then he received an urgent page from Nurse Shrew about an emergency. He quickly met nurse Shrew at the hospital to pick up a rolling stretcher and made their way as swiftly as possible to meet Tails in the tunnel that the doctor now impatiently paced within. The doctor had no idea what the emergency was, but given the history of the Freedom Fighters and their foe, it was likely nothing good.

A small clicking noise alerted the pair of the Mobians to a small circular door along the top of the roof slowly lifting away on its hinge; allowing the light of the tunnel to spill out into the dark night beyond; the escaping light illuminating the familiar face of Tails as he poked his head over the entrance. Dr. Quack sighed in relief upon seeing the young kits face. _"At least the lad is alright"._ Dr. Quack thought. Just as that thought had passed through his mind, Tails' face disappeared back out the hole, a bit to the mallard's surprise. Dr. Quack was about to go to the entrance and see where Tails had gone, when Tails reappeared at the entrance, this time climbing into the hole, feet first. The rest of his body, except his arms and head still remained outside, against the side of the entrance.

Tail's chest leaned against the side of the entrance for a few moments, making Dr. Quack think he might be unconscious, or at least too weak to continue moving on his own. The duck and shrew ran up the stairs leading to the entrance. They reached Tails and quickly saw that he was still conscious, but it looked like he was struggling to pull something inside the stump entrance.

"Tails lad, easy there son…" Dr. Quack said as he ran up behind the young fox. The doctor reached under Tails' arms and tried to lift him off the side of the entrance. Tails look up behind him, seeing Dr. Quack, but he would not let go of whatever he was holding onto. "Come on lad, let's get you some help." Dr. Quack said trying to pull Tails away from the entrance, but Tails still refused to let go.

"No, Dr. Quack, its not me, it's…" Tails brushed Dr. Quacks grip away and giving one last heave pulling the creature into the lit tunnel. "…him." Dr. Quack and nurse Shrew stared, jaws-agape, at the creature as Tails pulled the creature farther into the light.

"What, by heavens name, is that thing?" Nurse Shrew almost shrieked staring at the strange figure. "I found him in Robotropolis, Robotnik had been torturing him." Tails explained. "He needs help." He pleaded.

Nurse Shrew and Dr. Quack looked at each other indecisively and back at Tails' desperate face. Looking at the creature, Dr. Quack could instantly see that the creature was in great pain, it needed medical attention immediately; a quick glance at Tails and his pleading eyes, and his mind was made up. "Ms. Shrew, give me a hand with him." Quack said as he grabbed a hold of the creature's shoulders. Nurse Shrew complied without any objection and grabbed onto the creatures legs. Together they lifted it onto the rolling stretcher resting its spiked head onto the soft pillow.

While Dr. Quack and his nurse placed the creature carefully onto the stretcher Tails closed off the hatch and locked the secret entrance. He walked down the wide stairs, wobbling a bit as adrenaline coursing through his veins began to wear off and his exhaustion began to take hold of him. As he reached the bottom of the stairs passing by Dr. Quack and Nurse Shrew his legs gave out underneath him. Dr. Quack managed to catch Tails before he fell to the floor and lifted the tired vulpine to his feet. "Perhaps you should hop on the cart, with your new friend." Dr. Quack smiled. "You look Exhausted." Tails nodded in approval and let Dr. Quack help him to sit on the stretcher.

"Alright Nurse, lets get these two back to the hospital." Dr. Quack ordered. The nurse nodded and began pushing the stretcher through the tunnel. "Tails, if you feel up to it, can explain to me what happened?" Dr. Quack asked Tails as he pushed the stretcher from the same side Tails was sitting on. "Sure thing Doc..." Tails voice trailed off as they moved farther down the tunnel.

* * *

Back at the War Room…. 

Sally had returned to the War Room after relaxing in the kitchen with the others. After they had their snacks, and made a few jokes, Sally sent them home for the night to get some rest. Rotor had informed Sally when she had come back that Tails had made it back to Knothole, much to her relief. With that good news Sally happily sent Rotor home as well.

Sally was about to leave the War Room herself when the phone rang. Sally grumbled as she walked over to the offending machine and picked up the phone. "Hello?" she asked. "Oh, hi Doctor Quack, what are you calling so late for, I thought you'd be asleep by now."

"Yes, sorry Princess, there's something here at the hospital you need to see right away." Dr. Quack said, leaning his chair back from behind his desk.

"What do you mean Horatio?" Sally asked, surprised by the doctors invitation.

"I'm afraid you'll have to see this for yourself my dear. Suffice to say, Tails brought someone very unique home tonight." Dr. Quack replied.

"Very well Dr. Quack I'll be over momentarily." Sally sighed, and started thinking on the ducks words. _"_W_hat wasn't he telling her?"_

"Oh, and Princess…" Sally was about to hang the phone up when she heard the doctors voice from the phone.

She quickly pulled the phone back to her ear. "Yes?"

"Before I go I thought I'd let you know that Tails is fine, a little exhausted, but after a good nights sleep he'll be as good as new. You can take him home after you're finished here." Dr. Quack replied as he casually leaned his back in his chair.

"**WHAT!** What is Tails doing at the hospital!" Sally screamed so loudly and unexpectedly that Dr. Quack had to pull the phone away from his ear as she continued to yell though the phone.

The screaming, near-hysterical, Princess caught the water fowl completely by surprise as he leaned back too far in his chair and fell to the floor. The phone had fallen from his grip and dangled off the edge of the desk, Sally's yelling could still be heard shouting oblivious to the ruckus she had caused on the doctor's end. The physician reached for the phone and grabbed hold, still lying unglamorously on the floor. "Princess, Princess please!" Quack shouted into the phone. The yelling fell silent, the doctor sighed and took a deep breathe. "Princess, I told you Tails is fine, just exhausted from his little adventure tonight. Tails asked me not to tell you because he was afraid you might react like this."

On the other end of the phone Sally huffed a little in anger, but she contemplated the doctor's words for a moment. _"Tails had been right, she had overreacted. It wasn't like her to start screaming like that. Looks like she acted more like a mother to Tails then even she realized."_

"Sorry Dr. Quack, I'll be over to pick him up in moment." She apologized quietly as she hung the phone up on the wall. "I wonder what it was that Dr. Quack was talking about that he wouldn't tell me over the phone. Oh well, I'll find out soon enough." Sally said to herself aloud, closing the door behind her.

* * *

End Ch 2

heh heh, well i found that chapter to be amusing. any way as always please send a review if you like, i'll be more then happy to read your thoughts on how i've done thus far.


	3. Ch 3 More Mysteries

All the legal stuff is on the first page and carries forward to all subsequent chapters. I really don't feel like rewriting that stupid thing every time so deal with it. Anyway, hope these revised chapters are better then the ridiculously long chapters from before. I also hope everyone reading enjoys the story and please feel free to send a review, any review that isn't completely rude of course.

* * *

**A Visitor from Afar**

**Chapter 3: More Mysteries

* * *

**

Knothole Hospital…..

Sally made her way through the dimly lit village at a brisk pace. Her fears about Tails' safety were no longer what plagued her thoughts; rather whatever it had been that Doctor Quack had wished her to see so badly. _"Come to think of it, didn't he say Tails had brought someone home with him? Was this person what the Doctor wanted her to see?" _She contemplated long and hard as she passed through the dark village, hardly any lights illuminating the area. Something just didn't add up for Sally however, she had seen injured Mobians come trough the hospital before; dozens of times. Most often after Robotnik's latest scheme involved attacking one of the many small villages in the forest. _"Perhaps this person has something important to tell her."_ That was the only reason Sally could come up with as her head raced with thought.

Sally rounded the corner of Dr. Quacks hut, and saw Dr. Quack waiting for her just outside the well light vestibule of the hospital. "Ah, Sally good to see you made here so fast." The Doctor greeted holding out his hand to shake the monarch's hand.

"Alright Dr., I'm here, now what is going on?" Sally asked; a note of annoyance in her voice. The Dr. picked up on this and backed away a little, afraid she might have another outburst like on the phone.

"Yes, well, sorry if I seemed a bit vague on the phone, my dear." The duck apologized taking a step towards the hospital behind him. "If you'll follow me, I'll show you what I was referring to." Sally nodded and Doctor Quack took the lead through the doors of the vestibule and into the hospital beyond.

Just inside the hospital, off to the right of the doors was the waiting room. Snuggled in a small ball of golden-orange fur was the sleeping form of Tails. Sally noticed him immediately and rushed over to the young fox. "There, you see, he's fine, exhausted from carrying his friend all the way here, but in the morning he'll be back to his energetic self again." Dr. Quack smiled as he walked beside the Princess. Sally lightly stroked some of the fur away from the young child's face, seeing no cuts; and a peacefully innocent face.

"Friend? What do you mean?" Sally asked looking up from the fox.

"He's the reason I called you here. Come, follow me." The Doctor replied, again walking away from the Princess, headed for the patient's rooms. Sally got up from her kneeling position and followed the duck down the hallway.

"You said Tails carried this person here; from where?" Sally questioned while she followed the doctor.

"From what Tails explained, yes, he had to carry him all the way from Robotropolis." Replied Quack.

"Well that explains why he got back so slowly." Sally breathed out, satisfied with part of the mystery solved.

"Yes, and it also explains why the lad dropped out like a light bulb as soon as we arrived at the hospital. The poor tike, as fit as the young boy is, lugging this fellow all the way home was quite tiring for him." Dr. Quack replied hanging head in empathy for the young, exhausted fox.

"Here…" Dr. Quack stopped in front of a door and pointed at it. "This is where he is. Beyond here lies some answers, and raises many more questions. Go and have a look Princess." The doctor gestured her to enter. The room's lights were out, but the light from the hallway spilled into the room enough to illuminate the most basic features. It was a typical recovery room: the window was directly in front of the doorway on the opposite wall. The head of the bed was against the left wall, leaving a small gap on three sides of the bed. A chair sat beside the bed, with what looked like some of the persons possessions, she didn't give them much notice as she flipped on the light switch next to the door.

The lights winked on giving Sally a good look at the occupant of the lone bed. At the sight of it she froze. Even the silhouette of the legs beneath the blankets looked unusual, to say nothing of the head of this creature. She stared at the odd shape for some time before she walked closer to get a better view. An IV unit dripped untiringly into the creatures left arm, and a heart monitor incessantly beeped away the rhythm of the creatures heartbeat. As she approached she could see the creature's unsteady breathing upon its chest. Its wrists were bandaged up, and a few burns here and there suggested it had been hit with some mild laser fire; but otherwise no other injuries could be seen.

Sally took a good long look at the creature's face, the tattoos under its eyes and forehead were a deep green colour and triangular shaped. The points of the triangles curved away in an exotic manner, they were like nothing she had ever seen before. It possessed a large jaw, boney spikes projecting from the top of its skull and along the creature's spine. The spikes along the creature's neck had neatly matted themselves to the neck against the soft touch of the pillow, while the others remained ridged and unwavering. She lifted the blankets away so she could see why the legs appeared so strange, and quickly saw why. The legs resembled the hind legs of many of the non-sentient animals on the planet, yet the creature distinctively stood upright. Something else Sally spotted caused her to gasp a little, the tail ended with a similar, smaller set of spikes to the ones on the creatures head.

Sally finally broke her critiquing gaze on the creature and looked to the doctor in disbelief. "Dr. Quack, what is it?" The doctor shrugged at her as he walked beside her. "I… I just don't know dear, he's like nothing I've ever seen before." The doctor admitted.

"He doesn't match any of the DNA samples we have?" Sally asked still staring at the bed-ridden creature.

"No, it is completely unique. I thought he might be reptilian or a lizard at first but neither one even remotely matched." The Dr. confirmed. He placed one hand under his bill. "The only sample that came even remotely close was, believe it or not… Dulcy." The doctor concluded.

"You mean he's a… dragon?" Sally replied almost bug-eyed. Dragons were incredibly rare since Robotnik's take over. Most had either been killed in the initial attacks or were captured and robotisized. The possibility that there were others out there was a perplexing idea, and no doubt Dulcy would want to know in the morning.

"Well, when I examined him, he did have the two glands in his mouth that produce the chemicals that, when mixed together, produce a dragons fire breath, but his DNA is still too far off of Dulcy's to say he is for certain. My guess is he may be a unique sub-species' of Dragon." Quack finished; puzzlement still in his voice.

"What happened to him?" Sally asked, hoping that she would b able to get a better answer from the duck then the last.

"Tails said Robotnik had him on some sort of torture rack, he's been electrocuted several times. I gave him some medicine to dull the pain and relax his muscles. As for the wrists, the struggling the torture caused, dug the bonds into his skin. I patched him up as best I could, he'll survive, though his body will be aching like mad by morning." Quack finished his diagnosis.

"That's good; I want to ask him a few questions in the morning then. What are these?" she asked pointing at the objects on the nearby table.

"Those are what the creature was wearing when he arrived." Dr. Quack replied as Sally walked over to the items and carefully picked them up. The only things there were a pair of black, fingerless gloves that had a metal plate over the top of the hand part, a leather sash, and what looked like a pair of metal armbands. The odd thing was the armbands tapered-off above the part where the thing attached to the arm, with two small slits on one end of the bulky armband.

"Let me tell you Princess, we had a tough time getting those armbands off of him." Dr. Quack said pointing to the strange armbands.

Sally was a little puzzled by this and said. "Well, I'll see if Rotor can figure out what they might be." Sally explained simply. She put the armbands back down and looked at the contents of the sash. Most of the pockets were empty, but in one pocket she found several small metal spheres barely a cm in diameter. They looked similar to the smoke bombs Rotor made in his workshop. She placed one in her pocket to take to Rotor's for examination as well. She collected one of the armbands and walked towards the door. "I'll send someone over in the morning to keep an eye on him." Sally instructed to the doctor.

"Very well Princess, now, let's both get some sleep." Dr Quack smiled as he followed Sally out the door, closing it behind them.

Sally returned to the waiting room and smiled to see the sleeping fox exactly the same way she had left him. She bent over and gently picked up the small kit in her arms. Tails' body was very warm and his orange fur was very soft to the touch as she carried him. Thoughts passed through her mind of how proud she was of the young orphan. She cared deeply for the boy, even though they weren't even remotely related she still thought of him as a little nephew, or at some times more like the son she never had. He hardly moved as she carried him across the village, he was quite light for his size. Probably because his bones were hollow like a bird's were, she figured. It made sense, with solid bones the extra weight would be too much for him to be able to lift off the ground, just like a bird would.

She approached the hut Sonic and Tails shared and quietly opened the door. As always, Sonic had left the door unlocked; why would he need to, there was no crime rate in the village so why bother. Sally didn't bother turn any lights on since she didn't want to wake up Sonic. Still, in the dark Sally managed make her way across the small hut and lay her young charge on his bed. After gently tucking Tails into bed she left the foxes room, quietly closing the door behind her.

She walked away from the hut and made her way across the village to Rotor's workshop. The still night air was chilly, but refreshing none the less. Sally rounded the corner of Sonic's hut and walked past Sonic's window, laughing to herself from the snoring she could hear coming from within. As she approached the walrus' hut she could see a faint light under the crack of the door. _"Good at least I won't wake him up."_ She thought, reaching the door. She knocked calmly on the door and asked out loud "Rotor, it's Sally are you asleep."

"Nah, come on in, it's open." Rotor called back. Sally turned the knob and pushed the door open. Sally looked around the workshop; which was a mess as always. She spotted Rotor tinkering away with something on his workbench, his back to Sally.

"Hey Sally, what brings you so late?" Rotor greeted, finally looking behind himself as he grabbed a clothe and wiped his hands.

"Well, maybe I'm here to make sure you go to sleep for once instead of working all night as always." Sally joked, a big smirking grin on her face. Rotor blushed and laughed in his own embarrassment. "So, what are you working on this time?" Sally asked trying to look over Rotor's broad shoulders to see what lay on the table behind him.

"Well… it's just something… I've been tinkering with, nothing major." Rotor replied nervously as he kept moving to block Sally's view.

"Oh come on Rotor, I want to see." She insisted, but Rotor would not move out of the way. Finally Sally had enough of Rotor's persistence. "Rotor move aside, I want to see." Rotor sighed in defeat and moved out of the way. There, on the table sat what Rotor had tried so hard to keep Sally from seeing, and brother was she not happy. "Rotor is that a rifle!" she scolded, trying to keep her voice down but her anger easily detectable in her voice.

The long barrel of the gun sat upon the table, parts of the weapon were disassembled, but it otherwise looked almost complete. "(groan) Yes Sally, a sniper rifle to be exact." He said his head hanging low like a kid who's hand had just been caught in the cookie jar.

"I can see it's a sniper rifle, what I want to know is what you're doing building one! You know how I feel about guns!" Sally shouted anger boiling over at how her friend had been constructing a gun behind her back.

"Sal, I was going to let you know, just as soon as I was finished this one." Rotor said sadly.

"'This one', you mean there are others!" Sally exclaimed in shock. Rotor smacked himself on the forehead for letting that slip out and sighed in defeat. He walked over to one of the many upper cabinets hanging from his wall. He pulled out a key ring from his sash and started searching through the numerous keys, each key making a jingling sound as they passed through his fingers. Finding the right one he lifted it up to the lock on one of the cabinets above him. With a muffled click the lock opened and Rotor pulled open the cabinet doors. He reached into the cabinet and pulled down another rifle-sized weapon and a smaller pistol.

He placed the weapons down on the table, making a small thud as the two weapons made contact with the wooden table. The pistol was a polished, silver colour, with a black grip on the handle of the weapon and small rectangular patches of blue lining the barrel. Sally could see that the handle of the gun was hollow, presumably for the ammo clip.

The other rifle was much smaller then the sniper rifle. A small, hollow space on the underside of the stock looked like the loading place for the ammo clip. The rest of the rifle was relatively sparse except similar rectangles of blue on the side of the gun similar to the pistol and a handle on top of the rifle, about half-way on the length of the rifle with a tube shaped scope on the handle. The whole rifle appeared about half a meter long from stock to muzzle.

"These are what I was working on during those all-nighters you caught me on earlier this week." Rotor explained holding his hand over the three weapons. "You already saw the sniper rifle I was working on, so let me show you the other two. This pistol I've been working on fires about 8 rounds per clip; it's light, and accurate up to 20 meters." Rotor explained as he picked up the weapon and showed it to Sally.

"The other one is an assault rifle. It has a 2X scope, and carries 40 rounds per clip. It can dish out about 15 rounds per second. It's got a range of up to 40 meters." Rotor finished describing the rifle before handing it to Sally.

"As for the sniper rifle, it's got some vision enhancement features for the scope like infared, night vision and so on. The sniper rifle is good for about a Km." Rotor explained holding the dismembered weapon up.

"Um… very impressive Rotor, but I still don't understand why you made them. What makes you think I'd approve of the Freedom Fighters using these things?" Sally asked placing the assault rifle gently back on the table.

"Well that's just it, they don't fire ballistic ammo like the old overlander guns did. I designed themto use a magnetic accelerator system and they fire a specially made energy shot. When they hit a bot they cause a power surge that fries the circuitry." Rotor smiled as he plucked one of the shots out of an ammo clip and held it up, showing Sally. "The shots aren't lethal to living creatures, just bots. If some one did get hit by one it would just give 'em a bit of a welt, but nothing fatal. The shot needs to hit metal before it discharges the electricity." The walrus smiled with pride.

Sally's face wrinkled as she thought hard. "I don't know Rotor, I still don't really like the idea, after all we've managed to fight Robotnik just fine without needing guns up till now; I really don't think they're necessary." Sally said grimly, it hurt her to say no to Rotor's well intentioned idea, but she had Royal integrity to maintain. _"If we start using guns, we'd be no better then Robotnik."_ She thought as she saw the hopeful look in Rotor's stance faded, his head and shoulders slumping over in defeat. "Sorry Rotor, it's just the way it's going to be I'm afraid." Sally stated as she put her hand on the purple walrus' shoulder empathically.

"Alright your highness..." Rotor sighed, disappointed. His face lit up again after a few moments of despair. "So, um… what'd you came over for, Sally?" Rotor asked, changing the subject.

"Oh, right, Rotor can you take a look at these for me?" Sally asked digging into her pocket, retrieving the small sphere she had taken from the creatures sash. She also picked up the armband that she had casually put down on a bench beside her while she had been looking at the guns.

"Sure thing, Sally…" Rotor happily replied as he took the items from his friend. "Hey this thing looks like one of the smoke bombs I make!" Rotor exclaimed as he took a quick glance at the small silver ball.

"I thought it did, can you be sure if it is Rotor?" Sally asked.

"Well there's one sure fire way to know…" Rotor taunted raising his hand above his head and prepared to throw it to the ground.

"Rotor WAIT!" Sally shrieked as Rotor gestured to throw down the spheroid.

Rotor laughed out loud and said teasingly. "Heh heh. Gotcha… this will just take a sec Sal." Sally gave him an angry glare as Rotor walked over to a large machine and placed the ball under an instrument. He pushed a button and the machines began scanning the object. A few moments later the computer spewed out a piece of paper. Rotor took the sheet and scanned over the readings. "According to the scan, this thing shows similar attributes to the smoke bombs I made, so it's safe to assume that's what it is." Rotor said calmly placing the sheet down on the desk, and returning the smoke bomb to Sally.

"As for this thing…" Rotor trailed off as he placed the arm band on the table and reached for some screw drivers. "Let's see what makes you tick." he said to the armband. He looked over the armband, but could not find any screws, or even a seam for that matter! "Wow, that's strange." The walrus muttered to himself.

"What's wrong Rotor?" Sally asked looking over Rotor's shoulder.

"I can't seem to find where this thing comes apart. There aren't any holes where screws would be, no welds, not even a seam I can pry open. It's almost like this thing, came exactly as it is, no assembly." Rotor explained, shaking the object hearing something rattle around within. "It sounds like something is inside, but I can't see how it got in there."

Sally could tell he was only speculating, and that worried her, Rotor never let her down when it came to figuring out something mechanical. "What are you saying Rotor.' Sally asked, just as baffled herself.

"I'm saying that nobody built this it came like this naturally. I just can't understand how that's possible. If someone did build this, they've got some amazing craftsmanship." Rotor responded, irritated that he couldn't figure this thing out.

"Well see if you can at least figure out what it is; without destroying it that is." Sally requested walking towards the door. "And make sure you get some rest!" she shouted back as the door closed behind her.

Rotor laughed and shouted back to her that he would. Rotor sighed as he put away the weapons he was working on and locked them back into the cabinet. _ "I just don't understand why she won't let us use these weapons, they'd be a huge help; it's not like everyone can curl themselves into a buzz-saw like Sonic. Oh well, maybe she'll come around someday." _He thought as he secured the cabinet and locked them. After he was sure the cabinet was securely locked he turned to the armband still sitting on the table. "Alright you doirty rat, now you're gonna get it." Rotor retorted using his James Cagney impression.

As Sally walked away from the hut she glanced back at Rotor's hut and saw through the windows of Rotor's workshop numerous flashes of light, sparks flying and could even hear faint curses coming from the hut. Sally laughed out loud in the chilly night air._ "Rotor wasn't one to be denied."_ She thought to herself.

As she walked home she passed by Antoine's hut and a thought hit her. _"Antoine is always up early in the morning, I think I'll get him to keep an eye on that creature in the morning. Provided he doesn't panic and faint." _She muttered in her mind.

* * *

Morning…

The faint light of the morning dawn gently cast its golden rays of sunshine through the thick canopy of the tall trees. The morning was cold, but as the sun broke across the horizon the morning mist quickly evaporated and warmed the hidden village. The sleeping birds drowsily awoke and fluttered their feathers, flinging the morning dew off their delicate bodies. They flew from their nests and began singing their cheerful morning songs without a care in the world.

Almost all the inhabitants of the village were sleeping peacefully, dreaming, happy and content. Not all were sleeping however, the still and calmness of the morning was broken by the sight of a coyote wearing a royal blue uniform and red boots. Antoine walked briskly through the village the damp grass getting the soles of his boots wet. He headed towards the hospital, as the princess had requested. The princess had left a message with him sometime last night and had instructed him to keep an eye on a patient in the hospital and to inform her when he awoke. She did mention something about being prepared for a shock, but otherwise it would be an easy task. It was a simple and perhaps a little menial, but he couldn't really complain. It was better then risking his neck in Robotropolis; after all, he just had to watch over one, unconscious patient, what could be safer?

* * *

A few hours later in Sally's hut….

As the sun rose higher into the sky, the morning light began to shine through her open window, gently warming her face as it rested comfortably on her pillow. The light slowly began to wake the young Princess, though she kept her eyes shut, trying to savor this moment of peace and serenity. _"Oh if I could only stay like this for a little longer, the warm sun on my face; just relaxing like this…" _

The sudden ringing of her alarm clock broke Sally's slumbering bliss as she irritably slammed her fist on the blasted thing. Sally slowly got out of bed, grumbling all the way, and fumbled over to her bathroom in her morning drossiness. A quick shower and a few moments in front of the mirror later; Sally reemerged from the bathroom, refreshed and ready to face the day.

She grabbed a quick bit to eat in her kitchen, grabbed Nicole off her dresser and marched out the door. She headed through the village, now busy with people going about their business, towards Tails' hut. She had a few questions for the young kit. It wasn't a long walk, most of the official Freedom Fighters bunked closely together for simplicity sake. She approached the hut and quietly opened the door; nobody in the living room/ kitchen area. Sally wasn't entirely surprised, Sonic was prone to sleeping in as long as the others would allow him. Being careful to not make a great deal of noise Sally walked over to Tails' bedroom door and softly tapped on the door. "Tails, you awake?" she asked, listening for a response. Hearing nothing she knocked a little louder. "Tails, you up yet?" asking a little louder; still no response.

Sally remembered that she had left the door unlocked last night when she had tucked him in so she turned the handle and gingerly entered. The young boy's room was in a state that only a child could get it in. Blankets tossed aside, toys strewn about. Sally hardly paid any notice to the mess, she had more important things to worry about then a messy room. She daintily entered the room, careful not to crush or slip on anything.

Sally saw Tails still fast asleep, chest down on the mattress, tails protruding from underneath his blankets, arms and legs sprawled out on the bed, and one side of his face buried into his pillow. It looked like an awkward position to Sally, but the look on Tails' face told her that he was quite comfy and very much relaxed. As much as it killed her to wake him from his well deserved rest, she felt she had to; there were too many unexplained questions to be answered.

Sally carefully sat down on his bed beside Tails and gently reached out her arm and nudged his shoulder. "Tails, wake up sweetie, its morning." Sally said warmly. Tails moved around, muttering something incoherently, still half-asleep. She giggled under her breath, he must have been really tired if he was still this drowsy. She gently shook his shoulder again, this time Tails' head dazedly looked up from his pillow, scanning the room. His gaze passed right past Sally and continued on further to the left. He half-heartedly blinked a few times and returned his gaze back to Sally. He rubbed his eyes with his ungloved hands, rubbing the sleepy haze out of his eyes.

"Aunt Sally?" the fox muttered.

"Morning Tails." Sally greeted warmly.

"Morning, Aunt Sally" (yawn) sleep still gripping the boy. "(yawn) Sorry, I must be still tired from last night." The young fox apologized after yawning for the third time.

"I'm not surprised, after you lugged that stranger back all by yourself." Sally mused with a knowing grin.

Tails' eyes bulged, "You know about him?" he exclaimed.

"Yes, Dr. Quack called me last night, he showed him to me, and then I brought you home." Sally said sternly.

"But I asked him not to tell you I was at the hospital; I didn't want to worry you." Tails said fear in words, his pointy ears flattening against his head sadly.

"He told me about that too…" Sally grumbled, the irritation in her voice stemming from how Tails had been absolutely right. She had freaked out; and Doctor Quacks ears could prove it. Her tone quickly changed however, as she saw the sadness in the young fox. "…and thank you for your concern, but I'd feel a lot worse if didn't know where you were at all; understand?" Tails nodded glumly, resting his head on his knees, wrapping his arms around his legs.

Sally decided to change the subject. "So Tails, exactly what did happen in Robotropolis last night?" she asked leaning back on the bed against her hands, pulling Nicole onto her lap. Tails' head perked up and hoped off the bed.

"Well I got into the air-ducts like we planned and started crawling for Robotnik's computer room. Then I hear ole' Blubber-bolts laughing his head off about something; so I decided to go find him. I start crawling in the direction of egghead. Before I could find him something causes a huge noise that was so loud I couldn't even hear myself think! And the light was so bright I couldn't see a thing!" Tails exclaimed, Sally leaned forward, resting her elbows on her lap with great interest.

"Do you have any idea what caused the explosion?" Sally asked. The young kit simply shrugged and nodded no. "Alright, what happened after that?" Sally asked pressing the conversation forward.

"Well after the blast, I had a loud ringing in my ears for a few minutes, and I was still trying to clear my vision so I lost Robotnik for a while." Tails paused for a moment, contemplating what happened next. "After my vision and hearing cleared I kept crawling through the vents. After a while I heard Robotnik laughing it up again, followed by a scream." Sally head jolted up from Nicole's screen in surprise. "I crawled as fast as I could, and eventually I found Robotnik and Snively torturing that creature."

"Robotnik had captured the creature?" Sally asked

"Well not exactly, when I found him he looked… well, different." Tails admitted with an unsure shrug of his shoulders.

"Really; how so?" Sally asked puzzled.

"He was green, those spikes on his head and tail had skin webbed between them; it kind of looked like some kind of Mohawk." Sally sat intrigued at the fox's description. "He was also wearing armor." Sally's shocked eyes gave her disbelief away to the twin-tailed fox. "Ya, on his chest, arms, legs, even a helmet that fit around that funky frill of his. Oh, and he also had a sword and shield and as tall as a Swatbot!" Sally eyes widened at the statement, and Sally furiously typed this data into Nicole.

"What? How can that be the same creature you brought home?" Sally asked thinking about how such a transformation was possible.

"It' defiantly the same guy, I saw him transform." Tails confidence assured Sally that Tails' certainty.

"How's that possible, how'd that happen?" Sally asked trying to calm herself down.

"Well, Robotnik and Snively were still interrogating him when I arrived so I was forced to watch a little. When they left the room they kept the electricity running, so as soon as they left the room, I jumped out of the vent and turned it off." Tails explained, spinning his tails like a helicopter and lifted off the ground then dropping tot the ground; acting out the story as he told it. "I untied him and helped him off the table. I guess being tortured like that really tired him out considering how weak he was; he could barely stand." Tails described, in a more solemn voice. "He asked me to bring him to some crystal that Robotnik had taken off his armor and had put down on a pedestal across the room. So, I carried him over to it." Sally listened intently at his story absorbing as much as she could. "…Soon as I dragged him there, he touched the crystal and the next thing I know the crystal started glowing, then he started to glow so bright I had to close my eyes. When I open my eyes afterward he's out cold and looked the like he does now." Tails explained, his twin appendages flailing behind the fox excitedly. "Unfortunately he tripped an alarm by accident and I had to book it before I could think to bring the crystal with me." Tails' ear drooped sadly as lowered his head.

"He transformed when he touched the crystal…?" Sally mused to herself.

"Ya, it looked like a ruby, set in a golden shield." Tails interrupted without thinking.

"Nicole, how is that possible?" Sally asked the small computer on her lap. "Unknown Princess, based on the data Tails has provided, the crystal would likely be the cause of the transformation." The computer replied in its female, monotone voice.

"Gee Nicole, like that wasn't obvious enough." Sally groaned. "Any idea as to why it caused the creature to change?" she asked, with irritation.

"Not a clue." The machine answered plainly.

"Thanks a lot!" Sally sighed in defeat and put the computer aside for the moment.

"Tails, is it possible that crystal you saw was a Chaos Emerald?" Sally asked, tilting her head inquisitively.

"No, when Robotnik took it that was the first thing he said it wasn't." Tails replied.

"Umm… then we've got to get our hands on that crystal." Sally placed a hand under her chin in thought.

"Sorry Aunt Sally, I blew it, I shouldn't have panicked like that. If it was Sonic there he would have grabbed the crystal and the Slasher and be gone in a heartbeat." Tails sadly commented absent-mindedly dragging his toe along the floor.

"It's alright Tails, I don't blame you for panicking; if I was there I might have done the same thing with all the strange stuff happening. Besides, recovering that crystal's owner might yield more answers then just the crystal." Sally replied comfortingly placing her hand on his shoulder.

"Wait… his name is Slasher? Why didn't you mention that before?"

"You never asked. Besides, with a name like that I figured it was just his nickname, like how mine it Tails." Tails shrugged his shoulders innocently.

"Hmm, you're probably right." Suddenly the loud snoring from the next room broke Sally's concentration; and also served to give her a truly devilish idea. "Say, Tails, how's about we go and wake Sonic up?" Sally added with menacing grin.

The young kits face lit up with excitement at hearing that. "I guess so, why?" Tails asked not aware of Sally's true plans.

Sally placed a hand under her chin in thought for a moment. "I have a score to settle with that spike ball after he freaked me out last night. Do you have a bucket around here?" She replied rubbing her hands in a devilish manner.

At that exact moment outside Sonic and Tails' hut…

Bunnie Rabbot sauntered over towards Sonic's place partly to find Sally, and at the same time she was curious to see if Tails had made it home alright. She was just about to open the front door when she heard a bone chilling scream from within. Not sure what had just happened, but assuming the worst, Bunnie flung the part-way open door wide open and raced inside to the room the scream had come from; quickly discovered it to be Sonic's room. When she burst through the door, the first thing she saw was a soggy, soaking blue hedgehog. She quickly gathered what had happened as she spotted Tails in a corner busting a gut laughing and Sally holding a still dripping bucket of water. She took another look at the victim, still dripping with water. All of his spikes were matted to his body and hung limply to his body. Bunnie tried hard to not burst out laughing; putting a hand to her mouth to stop herself, to no avail. "No wonda' ya'll don't like water Sugar-hog!" Everyone burst into another laughing fit, Tails fell to the floor holding his sides from the pain of so much laughing.

After everyone calmed down a bit, Sally finally said something. "I warned you not to sneak on me like that Sonic the Hedgehog." Sally sneered trying hard not to burst out laughing at the victimized hero again.

"Okay, okay Sal, I surrender, just don't soak me outta bed like that next time will ya." Sonic whined holding his hands high in the air like he really was surrendering.

"Good." Sally replied with great satisfaction. "Well, that feels better." Sally placed the bucket on the ground and dusted off her hands feeling very satisfied with herself. "Sonic go and dry up already, you're dripping all over the floor." Sonic grumbled loudly as he walked into the adjoining bathroom and grabbed a towel off the rack.

"So, Bunnie, what brings you here this morning?" Sally asked looking towards the rabbit.

"Well Ah' was on my way ta find you; and ta see if lil' 'ole Tails here got back alright. Course, I come through the door an' hear Sugar-hog scream'n bloody murder." Bunnie explained laughing at here original fear of what happened as she had entered.

(Giggle) "Ya, well, I needed to get a little payback. But as you can see, Tails got back just fine, and he brought someone home last night that we all need to have a talk with." Sally said in a serious tone as she mentioned the stranger.

"Really, who?" Sonic asked, walking out of the bathroom while drying his head.

"We're not sure, I take a look at him last night, but I've never seen anything like him before."

"Was he awake when ya'll saw 'em?" Bunnie asked; Sally could only nodded no. "Then how ya'll know he's male?"

"He spoke when I rescued him, he certainly sounded like a guy; he calls himself Slasher I think too." Tails answered the question for Sally.

"It doesn't matter anyways, whatever he is we'll find out as soon as Antoine lets us know when he wakes up." Sally finished explaining. "In the mean time, I gave Rotor something of the creature's to examine; I want to find out what he's learned right now if anyone would like to join me." Everyone nodded in agreement and with that the group filed out of the hut and headed for Rotor's workshop.

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End Ch 3

Another on bites the Dust (dum dum dum) Another one bites the dust... heh heh, sorry couldn't resist. be forewarned, bumb jokes will doninate this part of my chapters. o well


	4. Ch 4 Can't We Just Get Along

alright, all that legal stuff is on the first chapter and carries over for all subsequnt chapters, so don't start yelling at me. any way story down there so what are you doing reading this? you din't come here to listen to me rant so get to it!

**A Visitor from Afar **

**  
Chapter 4:Can't We All Just Get Along?**

**  
**

* * *

Knothole Hospital, recovery ward….

Antoine sat on a chair reading a book he had brought with himself, every once in a while glancing over from his book to the strange being he had been assigned to watch over. It had been quite a shock to see when he first arrived at the hospital some hours ago. But after seeing how truly incapacitated it was, Antoine had been able to relax; even get a few more chapters into his book.

Lying on the hospital bed the creature stirred restlessly in his sleep. The drugs he had been given were wearing off now; and the pain from last night becoming all to clear to his consciousness. (_Ugh…) "Ohh…" _it moaned quietly_. "Where am I?"_ he tried to adjust his position, but every nerve in the creature's body ached like nothing he had ever felt before. He tried to move his right arm, but the muscles sent agonizing pain in refusal. (_Agh…) "That fat human really did a number on me."_

The creature stopped trying to move and tried to instead, focus on his surroundings. The sore nerves heightened the creature's sense of touch and he could feel the blood flowing through every vein in his body. It was very discomforting. He tried to focus his attention away from the rhythmic beat of his blood, but noticed that he could hear an annoying beeping sound that seemed to follow the same pattern. He tried to open his eyes, but they too refused to respond. He tried to flex his arms again, this time with more success, the pain was still there, but he found he could ignore the pain. As he flexed his left arm, however, he noticed something odd. It felt like something imbedded through his skin on the underside of his forearm. This worried him greatly and forced himself to open his eyes this time. His vision was blurry; he needed to blink several times before his vision cleared. His groggily glanced around the small, light blue room. He was lying on some sort of bed from the looks of it, something strange to him; he had never been on a bed this comfortable before. The blankets were very soft to the touch of his extra sensitive skin, the pillow his head rested upon was very soft and comfortable; but as he moved his arm across the soft blanket, the pain of the object in his arm reminded the creature to take a look at it. He glanced down and saw a strange, clear tube attached to his arm, and held fast by white bandages. Looking to his right he saw some of his equipment sitting on a chair beside the bed. He also noticed a strange black box sitting on a table just behind the chair. It displayed a thin, broken, green line that changed as the strange beeping noise sounded off. Suddenly, movement out of the corner of his eye caused the creature to quickly look in its direction. What the creature saw was a short, tail-less coyote in a blue uniform.

"Sally, ze patient iz awaking." Antoine spoke into his hand held radio.

"_Uh, oh that bozo just called for help. Well, they won't get the chance to torture me for info. I'll make sure of that! I swear it..."

* * *

_

Meanwhile…..

The Freedom Fighters entered the workshop of Rotor, finding him slumped over on one of his many worktables, fast asleep. "Man, only Rotor can fall asleep on his feet like that." Sonic joked as he saw walked into the hut. He walked over to the sleeping walrus and shook his shoulder.

"Uh, huh? …" Rotor awoke with a start. "Oh, Sonic, hey guys." Rotor greeted cheerfully, though a little groggy.

"Morn'n big guy." Sonic returned the greeting.

"Rotor, would you mind showing everyone that item I brought you last night." Sally asked.

"Sure thing Sal." Rotor replied turning to the work bench and plucking the shiny metallic armband off the counter. The others gathered around to take a look at the strange object.

"What is it Sugar?" Bunnie asked curiously.

"Its an vambrace, a piece of armor that covers the lower arm. It belongs to someone Tails rescued from Robotropolis last night." Sally explained pointing at the strange object.

"So that's what happened last night." Rotor nodded his head knowingly. "You called the med team for that person you rescued, not yourself, right."

"You knew about Tails calling for a med team and didn't tell me!" Sally yelled.

Rotor cringed at letting himself reveal that fact. "Sorry, Sal, I figured you might over-react if you found out. You were stressed out enough as it was last night." Rotor defended.

"Really? She was that worried about me?" Tails asked looking at Rotor with a surprised expression on his face.

"Sally-girl plum near wore a hole in the floor last night Sugar-Tails." Bunnie confirmed.

(sigh)"Rotor, did you learn anything last night?" Sally asked, quickly changing the subject.

"Well, as you already know, Sally, I couldn't find a way to get inside this thing and examine it properly, so I put it under this x-ray machine…" Rotor said as he placed the armband under the large machine. On the display screen a fuzzy white shape appeared.

"I don't see anything, Rote." Sonic commented impatiently.

"Just a sec Sonic." Rotor replied as he turned a knob on the machine. As he did the image on the screen changed. The center portion of the vambrace became more transparent with a white outline, showing the shape of the armband. Inside the border of the image two thick lines in the center of the object ran the length of the vambrace.

"What are those things in the middle?" Tails asked staring hard at the image on-screen.

"Hang on." Rotor replied. He reached down to the vambrace sitting on the machine and rotated it. As he did, the object on-screen rotated as well, showing the side of the vambrace. As it was rotated the two thick lines inside the vambrace became thicker, a small slit appeared in the middle of the thick lines, running the length of the thick metal within. One end of the line tapered upwards, like the tip of a knife.

(Gasp) "Rotor, are those what I think they are?" Sally exclaimed as the realization of what they were came to her.

"I'm afraid so, Sally, these things appear to be some sort of retractable battle claws." Rotor confirmed grimmly.

"That creature had two of these things when he came in last night…" Sally thought aloud. "...and I left the other one in the creatures room! And Antoine's watching him!"

The others slowly began to realize the gravity of the situation and gasped in shock as well. Sonic was less worried then the others however. "Relax Sal, you said he was unconscious didn't you, what's he gonna do, snore Antoine to death?" Sonic said sarcastically.

"Very funny Sonic, but this could be…" Just then Nicole chimed in. "Princess, Antoine is attempting to contact you." Sally's face showed great concern and worry. "Patch him though Nicole." Nicole beeped affirmatively and a moment later Antoine's voice came through on Nicole's speaker.

"Sally, ze patient iz awaking." Antoine said over the scratchy reception.

"Antoine, be careful the creature may be armed!" Sally yelled, hoping that Antoine would understand her warning.

"Exscuea'? He iz not… (ACK!)" Antoine's voice was abruptly cut short, followed by static.

"Antoine? Antoine are you there? Antoine, please respond." Sally shouted into the radio. Only static replied on the other end. She looked up at the shocked expressions her friends. "Something's happened at the hospital, let's go!" she ordered, and with no further instruction the Freedom Fighters bolted out of the workshop towards the hospital. As Rotor ran out the door he rushed back in with an after-thought and grabbed the vambrace, then raced back outside to the hospital.

* * *

At that moment...

"Alright chump, start talking!" the creature threatened, his voice smooth and deadly. The creature had grabbed Antoine from behind, grabbing one arm and holding the twin blades of his battle claws on his other arm against his throat. Antoine couldn't believe at how fast everything had happened, one minute he's speaking to Sally on his radio about the creature lying groggily on it's bed; the next it had grabbed its equipment, slapped them on, and leaped at Antoine, putting him in this life-threatening position.

Needless to say, Antoine was quivering uncontrollably in the grip of the creature. In fact he was so scared; he was babbling in French without even realizing it. The creature, confused by this, was getting more aggravated as Antoine continued babbling and muttering on in French. Finally the creature had enough and raised a hand back to strike Antoine in the back of the head.

Just before he did so, the door to the room burst open and the Freedom Fighters flooded into the room, Sonic and Sally in front. Rotor and Bunnie were next and Tails was behind them all, but was too short to be seen. "Hold it right there you freak!" Sonic shouted pointing a finger menacingly at the creature.

When the door burst open the creature had retightened his grip on Antoine, and returned his blades to Antoine's neck. Antoine cowardly babbled to Sonic to keep calm, and begged for help. "You're one to talk pal, but since I've got the hostage, how's about you stay put." The Freedom Fighters reluctantly eased back, not wanting to agitate the creature any further. "Good, first things first, tell me where my other battle claw is." The creature said clutching the body of Antoine tightly.

"It's right here." Rotor spoke out, raising the armband above his head so the creature would see.

"Good, how's about a trade, limp noodle here for my battle claw." The creature suggested.

"How are we supposed to know you'll give up Antoine if we do?" Sonic angrily pointed out.

"You have my word, besides, if you don't I could just kill him now you know." The creature replied bluntly, shaking Antoine's a little for emphasize.

"Alright, it's a deal. Rotor, give me the armband." Sally ordered. Rotor handed the armband to Sally, she started to take a step forward to the creature. "Nah, uh, uh, stay right where you are; just toss onto the bed beside me." He ordered. Sally stopped in her tracks and reluctantly threw the armband onto the bed.

The creature's right arm, the one with the battle claws already on, reached out and plucked the vambrace off the bed. He loosened his grip on Antoine with his other hand nad swung his free arm into Antoine's head, knocking him out cold. Before the Freedom Fighters could react he tossed Antoine's limp form across the small gap between the two parties. Sally and Sonic leapt forward to catch Antoine's body and brace it to the floor. In the brief second the Freedom Fighters were doing this the creature slapped his vambrace onto his left arm.

"Alright…" Sally began, trying to get the situation under control. "… you have you're stuff back, so how's about we talk about this out, nice and calm?"

"I won't be nice and calm until I get some answers…" he said, throwing his arm to the side, the blades within the armband sliding out with a soft metallic sound and struck up a fighting pose. "Like for starters who are you freaks?"

That tore it, Sonic had had it with letting this creep get his way, knocking out Antoine; now, it was on! "Why you!" he shouted as he exploded towards the creature with blinding speed. The creature was completely unprepared for this and took Sonic's right upper cut straight in the chest. The force of the speed-enhanced attack sent the creature flying though the window behind it. The sharp glass leaving dozens of cuts and gashes across its body and even a few on its' face.

Despite the blow the creature rolled with his momentum as he hit the ground outside, some of the shards of glass making new cuts along its back as he did so. He rolled onto his feet and threw his arms out to its sides again striking another fighting stance.

Sonic leapt out the window after his opponent, landing expertly on his feet outside the window. The other Freedom Fighters rushed out of the room and raced outside as fast as possible. Dr. Quack, who had come to investigate the commotion had come into the room and was now watching the fight unfold just outside the shattered window hile he tended to the Antoine.

People who had been walking by the hospital window stopped in their tracks and watched in amazement the spectacle before them. They all knew Sonic, but many were staring at the hedgehog's opponent, more in shock and horror.

The two combatants stared at each other for a few moments trying to see who would act first, or if the other would back down. The other Freedom Fighters now came around the corner and watched on the side lines as the two fighters stared each other down. The tension was thick, everyone watching was silent, everyone leery of the spectacle.

Sonic was the first to make a move. He surged forward using the same maneuver as before, hoping to send the creature into the wall behind it. Sonic closed the distance in milliseconds, but somehow the creature dived away at the last second, catching Sonic by surprise. Now Sonic had to hit the brakes fast, or he'd be the one crashing into the wall.

Sonic dug the heels of his special shoes into the dirt, coming to a screeching halt just centimeters from the wall of the hut. Sonic let out a sigh of relief, which proved to be a mistake. While Sonic had been stopping the creature had rolled out of its sideways dive, dug its clawed feet into the ground and lunged forward at Sonic. Everything happened so fast that nobody watching noticed that as the creature rolled away, he had retracted his battle claws.

Sonic looked back to where he had last seen the creature just in time to see its fist land a punch right square on his left cheek. The force of the punch sent Sonic flying through the flimsy wooden wall and crashed on top of a table inside, collapsing like a cheap piece of cardboard.

Believing that the creature had driven those foot long blades into Sonic's skull everyone gasped in horror; especially Sally... She stared in awed shock and disbelief; a small tear rolling down her cheeks. Then, something deep inside herself snapped, brining on a rage nobody had ever seen. "Sonic… **YOU MONSTER!**" she screamed, running full speed at the creature, tears of rage now pouring from her eyes. The attack caught the creature by surprise; he had been busy staring at the defeated body of Sonic, lying motionless on the crumpled table.

Sally planted a hand on the ground and did a flipping side kick at the creature. The creature turned reactively, the full force of the blow striking his already torn up and bloody back. "Argh!" he yelled in pain.

Sally did not stop there however, as the creature turned to face Sally; she threw a devastating right hook into his jaw. The force wasn't enough to break a tooth, but the pain was multiplied by the numbing pain of his electrocutions last night. He staggered backwards a step or two, but remained standing despite the violent punch. Hic teeth clenched together hard attempting to focus the pain. But the raging female he fought would not give him such a moment. She launched another punch into his gut, followed by a knee to his stomach as he bent over in reflex; knocking the wind out of him.

He fell to his knees gasping for breathe. His opponent circled as him like a vulture around a newly dieing carcass; a look of cold, merciless hate in her eyes. No, not hate; revenge. But as she circled him, he also observed her breathing heavily, she was tiring out; this is his chance. Summoning all the willpower he could he forced his breathing back under control, doing so as discreetly as possible to not alert his opponent. He waited until she passed behind himself, he swung his tail out; tripping her up.

Sally had not expected the creature to do something like that and was completely surprised when she felt her feet knocked out from under her. She fell to the ground hard, but using her years of sparring training, she broke her fall easily. She got to her feet even as her opponent did the same.

The two sized each other up while they circled each other, waiting for the other to make the first mistake. Sally was surprised to see that the creature had not bothered to extend his battle claws in all this time. Something she was grateful for. Sally struck first, leading in with a left hook, followed by a right upper cut into his chest.

Slasher could scarcely believe the ferocity of her attacks, she fought like she had nothing left to lose. He hardly had time to think about that much however as he tried to block her attacks. He spun around and, using his tail, swept his opponents feet out from under her for the second time this fight.

He tried to stomp down on her neck, but Sally rolled away before his clawed foot could connect. While still on the ground Sally spun on her hand to perform spinning back kick into the creature's back yet again. He howled in pain, but in that pain he became all the more determined to defeat this opponent. Rage filled the creature's eyes as Sally stood up and threw a left hook at his head. He blocked the punch with the back of his armored arm, and with his trained reflexes thrust the same arm at Sally's throat, grabbing her around the neck.

He flung Sally against an in-tact wall of the hut he had just sent Sonic through and pinned her against it. Sally clawed frantically at creatures arm with both hands, desperately trying to pry the strong arm from her neck; to no avail. Using his free arm the creature extended his blade and placed the sharp points to her stomach, preparing to stab them into her soft flesh.

Fear quickly flooded over Sally, replacing the boiling lust for revenge of a moment ago. Her eyes filled with cold tears that streamed down her cheeks from her shut eyelids. _"See you soon Sonic…."_ She whimpered in her mind as her life flashed before her eyes. Everyone watching was holding their breaths in shock, "_this can't be happening"_ were just some of the thoughts of the spectators. Not a word was spoken; time seemed to slow to a crawl.

Antoine, who by now had finally woken up looked out the broken window that a shocked Dr. Quack stared out of. What he saw made him gasp in horror, the Princess was about to be killed! In desperation he shouted out: "**PREENCESS**!"

The word froze the creature in his tracks; the rage in its eyes disappeared instantly. "Princess…" the creature repeated quietly to himself. What happened next was beyond anyone's belief.

Sally's every muscle was tensed preparing for the impending pain, her eyes were shut fast and she held her breathe. Suddenly she felt the grasp around her neck disappear completely; in fact she was even pulled away from the wall. She dared to take a peak with one eye, just to see what had happened. What she saw caused both eyes to bulge out to the size of saucers, and her jaw to drop. There before her, down on one knee, head bowed respectfully was the creature.

"Princess, forgive me; I didn't know." He said in the calmest, most sincere voice she had ever heard. Her amazement was equally shared in the gathered crowd; nobody saw that coming. After several moments of silence, the creature never raising its head in all that time, Sally finally regained her senses enough to make a response.

"Know what?" she asked her mind a loss of confusion.

"That you were royalty; please, forgive my rash actions." If the creature was scared of whatever repercussions Sally could possibly enact, he certainly didn't show it.

"Wait, one minute you're ready to kill me and the next you're bowing before me?" Sally said confused beyond belief.

"I am sworn to protect and serve the monarchy; had I known, I would not have attacked you, your highness." He replied, never raising his head. Sally's mind clung to his words, but abruptly Sally remembered about Sonic. "Sonic…" she whispered to herself, immediately turning on her heels and rushed to Sonic's side.

As she removed pieces of the table off of Sonic, Sally was relieved to see no stab marks on Sonic's head; and even more so to see him stir as she removed the debris. Sonic slowly sat up holding his head in pain; Sally tightly hugged Sonic, tears pouring down her cheeks. "Sonic, I was so scared…" Sonic had no idea what she was talking about, but he could see how badly shaken up she was, so he returned the hug affectionately.

As Sally's grip on Sonic loosened, she helped him to stand; placing his arm over her shoulders to steady him. As they walked outside the crowd let out a sigh of relief to see the hedgehog alive. The other Freedom Fighters ran up to the pair. Tails in particular ran up to Sally and leapt into her arms, giving her a big hug, combined tears of fear and relief streaming down his cheeks. Seeing the small kit crying like this made Sally start to cry again as well; her own relief at seeing him again sweeping over her. "(Shoosh) Tails its okay… (sniff) it's alright now…" Sally soothed quietly rocking back and forth to comfort the sobbing kit.

"Thank goodness ya'll are alright." Bunnie finally saind, sighing in relief.

"Ya, but what do we do with **him** now?" Rotor asked pointing to the kneeling figure nearby. Sally put Tails down and walked in front of the creature. She stared at him for a long time, her emotions battling for a decision. She felt rage towards the creature for nearly killing herself, but the feeling passed as she observed the creatures badly shredded back, and the many gashes across its body; her compassion for all life winning out.

"You! You say you are sworn to protect and serve the monarchy?" She asked pointing a finger sternly.

"Yes you're highness." He responded, never raising his eyes to meet hers.

"Can I trust you to not repeat this incident?" Sally asked in a very commanding, and authoritative tone.

"A Guardian is honor-bound to keep their word. You have my word, your highness." He responded.

Sally nodded approvingly. "Good, stand up and follow me." She ordered. He obediently stood up and followed as Sally walked away. Sally stopped next to the Freedom Fighters and like a trained puppy the creature stopped behind her. "Follow me guys, its time we get some answers!" She said to her friends sternly. Sally marched off towards the hospital entrance. The creature let the Freedom Fighters leave first, then fell in behind them. The crowd looked at each other in confusion and dispersed, returning to their prior tasks as the Freedom Fighters marched away and disappeared around the corner of the hospital.

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End Ch 4

Whew instense wasn't it, and there'll be way more action coming your way in the future so don't even think about leaving this story. please feel free to submit a review to me, sighed on not i don't care, i love to hear the feedback.


	5. Ch 5 Twenty Questions

All ratings and copyright, and legal stuff is listed on the first chapter and carry forward to all subsequent chapters.

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Here's a quick review of events since the start for those who are reading this story and have forgotten what happened earlier, or is reading this story out of order(what the hell are you reading this out of order for?). Robotnik was experimenting with the void again and something went wrong, big surprise there. As a result coconuts and crabmeat get shredded by the mysterious stranger that appears as a result of the accident. Unfortunately he is captured and tortured for information, not like he says much! Tails was originally sent in on a recon mission to discover Robotnik's latest plans, but discovers the creature in the process. He frees the creature from his restraints and rescues him from the fortress. The creature goes through some freaky transformation when he grabs a strange crystal becoming much smaller (yes it does sound like he de-digivolved, but believe me its something else). Tails returns to Knothole with the creature and places him in the hospital. Sally freaks out about Tails, and discovers Rotor has been experimenting with a new series of weapons. The creature wakes up the next morning, holds Antoine hostage sends Sonic through a wall and Sally nearly gets killed. That was cut short when Antoine revealed that Sally's a princess, now the creature claims he is sworn to serve the monarchy. Now Sally has taken the creature into the hospital to get some answers.

* * *

**A Visitor From Afar**

**Ch 5 Twenty Questions

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**

Knothole Medical Center….

The waiting room inside the hospital was now fairly busy with various people waiting for treatments, or check-ups; so many of them chatted amongst themselves, unaware of the drama that had just recently occurred outside. Some of the people in the waiting room fell silent when the Freedom Fighters enter the lobby, and anyone who hadn't before did so when the strange creature, it's back bleeding badly, entered behind them. Dr. Quack rushed over to the group as he entered the room from the hallway. "Princess, are you alright?" Dr. Quack asked, a little out of breathe from the quick jog between the creature's room to the lobby. Antoine rushed up beside him, an equally distressed look on his face.

"I'm fine guys, really." Sally assured them holding her hands up. "Dr. Quack we need to patch him up, you have a room we can all fit in?" Sally asked pointing to the bloodied creature behind the group.

"Yes, of course your highness… follow me." Dr. Quack replied obediently, turning on his heels and waddled, like any duck would, down the corridor from which he had entered. The group followed the duck down the hallway, receiving more stares as the creature walked past the many onlookers.

As they all proceeded down the warm blue hallway Sonic quickened his pace till he got up beside the princess, a questioning look on his face. "Sal, you sure this is a good idea, can we really trust him?" he asked shrugging his thumb over his shoulder towards the creature.

"Look Sonic, he's already been tortured by Robotnik for information, and he never told him anything. If we hope to learn anything about him peacefully, we're going to have to show we mean him no harm." Sally sighed raising her hand trying to explain herself. "Besides he seems to listens to me a lot better then you, we'll be fine. Just keep it cool." Sally smirked as Sonic frowned at the notion, but Sonic nodded he understood.

"In here Princess, there should be plenty of room for everyone." Dr. Quack said opening the door to the large examination room; holding the door open for everyone as they filed inside. The Freedom Fighters took a seat on what was available; Tails, Antoine and Sonic took the only seats in the room while Bunnie hopped onto a nearby sink. Rotor went to the sole window in the room and rested his elbow on the sill. Sally went to the center of the group and propped herself against the cold surface of the wall, pulling Nicole by her strap into her hands and opened the small contraption up.

"Have a seat on the table son." Dr. Quack instructed to the creature. The creature looked to Sally unsure, Sally nodded affirmatively, so he hopped onto the exam table without any further fuss. Dr. Quack walked over to a phone hanging on the wall and picked up the receiver. "Available nurse to examination room three please." As he spoke into the phone his voice came over the speakers in the ceiling at a much greater volume.

The voice coming from seemingly no where alarmed the creature sitting on the table and Dr. Quack quickly picked up on his distress as he turned away from the phone. "It's alright my boy; I just paged a nurse, that's all." The explanation seemed to calm him down a little, but his worried expression changed to one of confusion; like he had never heard of such things before. "_Curious…"_ The doctor thought.

A moment passed and short while later a grey, apron wearing shrew entered the room. "_It's Nurse Shrew from last night."_ Tails observed. The Shrew jumped a little when she spotted the creature sitting on the exam table, but said nothing. She walked over to the doctor and patiently watched the doctor examine the many gashes and scraps on the creature's body.

"Dr. Quack, can you patch our friend up while we have a little chat with him?" Sally asked as she leaned against the light—blue wall of the room.

"_Uh, oh here we go again!" _The creature thought, believing they intended to interrogate him in the same manner as the human last night.

The doctor nodded in agreement and went over to a drawer and began to fetch some medical supplies. After grabbing what he needed he pulled up a rolling tray together they placed the stuff on it. He pulled a needle from one of the boxes and inserted the business end of it into a small jar. He pulled on the back of the syringe and slowly it filled the chamber with a clear liquid from the jar. He retracted the needle out and placed the jar back down on the table, and turned to the creature.

The creature saw the device in the doctor's hand and his eyes bulged out; already guessing his intent. "Oh no you don't…" the creature started to object as he tried to jump off the table; but Sally rushed forward and grabbed the creature's shoulders firmly.

"Just relax; we're trying to help you." Sally said trying to calm the still fidgeting creature in her arms.

"Ya right, the last doctor I came across tried to kill me…" The creature replied, both anger and worry in his voice.

"You have my word we won't harm you." Sally interrupted the creature, tightening her grip on his shoulder in assurance; a sincere look in her eyes. The creature stopped fidgeting and nodded his head in approval. With the patient calmed down, Dr. Quack bravely stepped closer.

"This might hurt a little, but the pain will die away quickly." He assured him. The creature stared at the instrument a little worried but made no objection. The doctor quickly swabbed some alcohol on his skin and swiftly inserted the needle, to the minor discomfort of the owner of the arm; but despite it, he remained calm. "There, you'll feel the pain go away in a few moments." Dr. Quack said with a satisfied smile. "Now, let's clean those cuts."

Seeing that near-crisis pass, Sally finally decided it was time to get some answers. "Alright first off, I think we need some introductions." She said calmly, placing a hand on her chest. "I'm Princess Sally Acorn, leader of the Knothole Freedom Fighters." The creature nodded in a greeting gesture. "This is Bunnie Rabbot..." she said directing his sight to the partly metallic rabbit.

"_This one wears armor, hmmm…"_ the creature thought as he greeted her with another silent nod.

As Sally introduced the others, Dr. Quack took a damp clothe and gently scrubbed the blood, dirt and blades of grass from the creatures body; he even had to pull a few fragments of glass that had imbedded themselves into his skin. Every time the doctor's clothe passed over his many cuts or removed another shard it caused him to flinch a little, breaking his sentences with an 'ow' or 'ouch'. He tried his best to observe the individuals as best as he could, but the pain from the clothe's movements over his already sensitive skin, and the equally tender perforations of his skin caused him to shut his eyes every now and then, and made it difficult to focus on the faces and names.

"This is Tails…" Sally explained, pointing to the small fox sitting next to Sonic.

The creature recognized this one. "I know you; you're the one who rescued me aren't you?" He asked. The twin-tailed fox nodded yes shyly. "Thank you kid, I'm in your debt." he thanked the young kit, a broad smile crossing his face for the first time since he had arrived in this strange place. Tails smiled back, his expression saying 'you're welcome' without him having to speak at all.

Sally smiled at this as well, this was at least a sign this stranger wasn't all rough around the edges. "And you already met your sparring partner over there…" Sally pointed in Sonic's direction. ", that, is Sonic the hedgehog." The creature nodded, but Sonic just grumbled bitterly as Nurse Shrew placed an ice pack over the bruised spot on his face before she returned to Dr. Quacks to side to aide him.

"Well, that's all of us, so how about you tell us who you are?" Sally asked sighing as that formality was now out of the way.

The creature straightened its back and neck with dignity and raised his right fist over his heart, almost like he was saluting. "You may call me Slasher." He said proudly. Everyone was a little surprised by the name, and as such they looked at each other confused.

"Yes, I know that, but what is your real name?" Sally asked; irritated to not find out what she had wanted.

"That **is** my name…" Slasher replied coldly.

Sonic was chuckling under his breathe, trying to cover up his amusement. "What kind'a name is that!" Sonic finally burst out loud accompanied by a harsh glare from the Princess. The creature glared at the offending hedgehog with a stare that would kill.

"Watch it blue boy, that's the only name I've ever had, so back off!" he said sternly; almost shouting in anger.

"Really, you don't have any other name?" Sally asked a bit surprised; thinking that the name he had stated was just a nickname. After all, 'Tails' was just his nickname, he at least had another name. The creature shook his head.

"No, I was nameless for a very long time; until I got these." He replied extending the battle claws attached to his arms, showing off his namesake.

"Ah can see where the name came from, but does that mean ya'll are an orphan?" Bunnie asked trying to affirm the creature's implication. Slasher nodded yes, hanging his head low.

"I'm so sorry to hear that… many of us have lost loved ones, especially Tails; he lost both of his parents when he was a baby and has no relatives at all." Sally said sighing as she spoke. The creature raised his head in surprise at Sally.

"But eef you were ze orphaned, how were you raised?" Anotine asked, speaking much more calmly, and coherently, then his first discussion with Slasher.

"I was raised from an egg by the Guild of Guardian's. I am now a Third Echelon." He stated proudly.

"Guild of Guardian's? Third Echelon? What are you talking about?" Sally asked shaking her head in confusion from the strange terms.

"The Guild is an ancient order of warriors that took an oath millennia ago to protect the weak and serve the rulers of their lands. There are five levels within the order. The first level is the training level they stay within the guild and learn many weapon techniques and ways of combat there. The second is where the novice trainee's are sent out into the world to learn the lessons of life and establish themselves in it. The third is when they are granted full rank as a Guardian. The fourth is the Elite Warrior rank, this is a highly sort for title. The final level is the Grand Master title, only a small number of warriors reach such an honored level; they are the leaders of the Guild and are the teachers of the most advanced skills." He explained fighting hard to ignore the stabbing pain Dr. Quack's cleaning was causing the short reptile.

"I've never heard of such a society before…" Sally said, her tone flat as she typed into Nicole. "Nicole, scan memory for a Guild of Guardian's."

"Scanning Princess… no data found on requested topic." The computer replied.

"Not even in the encrypted royal files?" Sally stated surprised by the computers response.

"Negative Sally."

"What magic is this?" Slasher asked astonished by the small computer Sally held.

"You mean Nicole? Its no magic, she's just a computer." She explained, holding Nicole out for Slasher to see.

"(Ow!) A computer? What's (Agh!), a computer?" Slasher asked tilting his head in confusion while flinching in pain as Quack removed some rather large fragments of glass from his back.

"She's… well… a machine." Sally replied struggling to describe it to him. This explanation did nothing to remove the puzzled look on the crimson creatures face.

"You know; a machine…" Sally trailed off seeing this was not helping. "You don't know what a machine is, do you?" she asked realizing the source of the problem. The self-proclaimed Guardian shook his head glumly. "Well it's not important." She said comfortingly. "What I'd like to know is where you came from and how you ended up in Robotropolis." She finished crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back against the wall in interest.

Slasher closed his eyes, placed a hand on his head and concentrated hard on what he could remember. "The last thing I remember… I… I was walking through a lush forest with the Elite's…"

"Elite's, who iz zes Elite's?" Antoine muttered listening intently to the story.

"The Elite's are a small group of creatures I lead against a powerful alliance of tyrants who seek to conquer our world." Slasher replied with a scowl of hate upon mentioning his foes.

"Ya'll mean Robotnik's goons? There's only one a' him thank goodness." Bunnie replied believing he had mistaken a group of Robotnik's sub-bosses.

"No, I've never seen that fat human before; the only humans that exist where I'm from are the ones that are aiding us against the tyrants. And I've never seen knights like the ones that captured me." Slasher shook his head in disbelief at the memory of the fierce dome-topped soldiers.

"What do you mean Slasher?" Sally asks confused and intrigued by the creature's story.

"Well, like I said; one minute I'm with my friends in a forest, the next thing I know I'm lying on a cold, metallic floor. Then some fatso, possibly this Robotnik, orders these two armored creatures to attack me."

"Armored creature's?" Sonic mused, removing the icepack from his eye. "Knights? I think ya hit yer head on that window or somethin' pal." Sonic mocked, amused by the rather primitive descriptions.

"Not now Sonic, let him finish!" Sally told him sternly. "Please, continue."

"Thank you, your highness. I beat them easy enough, but I've seen animals like them before. They're skin completely metal, and when I cut them in half, not flesh inside, just more metal, and they're blood as black as night's sky. One looked like a small, red crab, and the other an annoying brown monkey, tried to harm me with a strange coconut that exploded when it hit my shield. But as soon as I beat them; these tall, fully armored knights showed up and fired these strange beams of light at me."

"Let me guess, they all looked exactly alike and had dome-shaped heads." Rotor interjected crossing his arms knowingly."

"Yes, you're familiar with them?" Slasher replied a little surprised by the uncanny description.

"Yea, ya might say that. As for the crab and monkey they gotta be Crabmeat and Coconuts." Sonic said clenching his fists in anger at the memory of the annoying robots.

"You… (Ow!) know these… (Ouch!) warriors by name?" Slasher commented, his sentence broken up as Dr. Quack roughly scrubbed a particularly dry blotch of blood.

"There, you're all cleaned up, now we just need to disinfect those cuts and then we can wrap them up." Dr. Quack softly spoke to his assistant. "Nurse, pass the **iodine**." (Bum, bum, bummm…) (ominous music)

"Yes, they work for Robotnik, so we see them quite often." Sally explained. "But as for those knights you mentioned, they're called Swatbots."

"Swatbots?" Slasher asked confused by the term. While he spoke to the Freedom Fighters, he didn't pay any attention to the good doctor behind him, who, at that moment soaking a swath of cotton with the yellow-coloured iodine. Dr. Quack casually, and absent-mindedly, rubbed the cotton onto Slasher's back and **across** his open wounds! "What are… **YEEEEEEEOW**!" he screamed jumping off the table as the stinging iodine began to react with the tender flesh.

"What was that!" he yelled at the shocked doctor; spinning around, ready to leap at the doctor as he landed on the ground.

Dr. Quack stared at the furious patient in shock for a few moments; recovering from the initial shock of his patient's reaction, he grinned in embarrassment. "Heh heh… Sorry about that my boy, I should have warned you about that." He apologized weakly.

"Ya right, you're trying to kill me, just like that lardo from last night!" Slasher shouted back angrily.

"It's just iodine my boy." Dr. Quack explained innocently.

"Io-what?" Slasher replied confused by the word.

"You don't know what iodine is?" Sally asked both curiosity and surprise filling her words. The lizard shook his head in agreement, still keeping one eye suspiciously on the doctor.

"It's just meant to prevent infection, its nothing lethal by any means." Dr. Quack explained for the princess.

"Like the doctor said, so, let him finish, and quite squirming like a little kid." Sally said in a rather commanding, yet motherly assertive way. Slasher sulked in defeat and hoped back onto the table.

"(Hmph…) That fat creep last night called himself a doctor too, and he was hardly trying to help me!" Slasher scowled angrily plopping back on the table as he rested his head on his hand.

"Yes, I heard about what Robotnik did to you last night." Sally replied crossing her arms as she leaned against the wall.

"So that is what the human calls himself?" Slasher pondered, never lifting his head under off his hand, concentrating hard to ignore the extreme stinging pain that came from the iodine Dr. Quack continued to apply.

"Yes, I take it you've never heard of him before?" Sally asked after judging his reaction.

"Yea, but then again I've only known a few humans in my life." Slasher admitted.

"Humans, what iz zis human you speak?" Antoine asked, unfamiliar with the term.

"Hmm… we've always known them as Overlanders." Sally said pondering over the two terms. "Although, the royal archives have made reference to them as humans. Where did you meet these humans Slasher?"

"That… is a LONG story. But they're from a planet called Earth, and they're helping my friends and I defeat the Overlords." Slasher replied, sounding a little hesitant to try and explain everything.

"Who are these here Overlords?" Bunnie asked as she crossed her arms with interest.

"They're those tyrants I mentioned earlier that we're trying to defeat." Slasher calmly explained, moving his arm to allow Quack to wrap some bandages around his chest and shoulder.

Just then the window across the room burst open, knocking Rotor away from the window onto Antoine's seated lap, followed by the light green head of Dulcy the dragon. "Sally, thank goodness you're safe, I just heard what happened and I…" Dulcy bellowed, oblivious to the strange creature sitting on the table nearby.

"Look out!" Slasher shouted leaping off the table and placing himself in front of the others in a defensive stance before the perceived threat. The bandages that Dr. Quack had been wrapping dangled limply from his body since the doctor had not tied the bandages up before Slasher had suddenly jumped off the table. He threw his arms to the side, letting his blades extend out, and leapt at Dulcy. He lashed out at the stunned dragon's head with his blades and narrowly missed as Dulcy twisted her long neck to avoid the razor sharp blades.

Dulcy recovered quickly from the initial attack and without thinking launched a fireball at her attacker. By shear instinct Slasher took a deep breath and on the exhale let fly a fire ball of his own. The two blasts collided in mid-air; canceling each other out with a loud explosive thud. Sonic leapt from his chair, jumped in front of Slasher and grabbed hold of him to keep the reptile from attacking any further. Aside from a small scorch mark on the ceiling nothing caught fire and no further harm was done.

Everyone present stared, frozen in shock, especially Dulcy. Her stunned expression never faltered as she spoke to Slasher with eyes the size of saucers. "You… you're a… a Dragon?"

* * *

End Ch 5

Oooo, pretty pretty fireball... o... um didn't see you standing there well, what do you think of that? more answers and many more questions coming up soon. not to mention som major ass-wupping too.


	6. Ch 6 Questions Answered

don't worry folks, i know the last few chapters have been a bit dry, but fear not, things will be heating up very quickly, and its not because my pants are on fire... wait a minute... MY PANTS ARE ON FIRE!... AAAAHHHH! while i try to extinguish my ass heres the next chapter... (Stop, drop and roll; Stop drop and roll...)

* * *

**A Visitor From Afar**

**Ch 6 Questions Answered**

**

* * *

**

"Yes. I am a dragon." Slasher replied cautiously easing his stance, his words still held an icy note of distrust, unsure if she was truly no threat.

"Slasher, meet Dulcy; Dulcy, meet Slasher." Sally said pointing to each other as she introduced the two. She sighed, relieved to see Sonic restraining himself from another skirmish with this stranger.

"Sally, can you please explain who on Mobius this guy is?" Dulcy asked, shaking her head in confusion.

"I'll fill you in later Dulcy." Sally replied petting Dulcy's neck assuringly; trying to settle the emotional dragon's nerves. Sally turned to Slasher with a stern, angry look on her face. "Alright you, what gives?"

Slasher returned a confused look of innocence, unaware he had done something wrong. "Why did you attack Dulcy like that?" Sally yelled, clarifying her question.

"Yea, what gives, you just attacked the most gentle creature on this planet!" Sonic shouted, pushing Slasher back.

Slasher held his footing and glared at Sonic, but ignored the obstinate hedgehog and looked over to the princess behind him. "Sorry your highness, I was not aware she was a friend; I thought she might have been dangerous." He replied in a solemn, regretful tone.

"Say wha? Are those spikes on yer head cut'n off the circulation to yer brain, dragons are peaceful!" Sonic exploded; anger and sarcasm in his voice.

"Not where I come from…" Slasher shouted. "…in fact one of my worst enemy's is a dragon; a** very** dangerous dragon. He seeks to build an army and kill every living thing." Slasher added dryly.

"Sally, I know what he's saying is hard to believe, but it's the truth." Dulcy said, listening to his words in shock and amazement.

"You sure Dulcy?" Tails asked innocently.

"Tails, you know we dragons can't lie." Dulcy replied soothingly to the young kit.

"HA, that's a load of it." Slasher laughed out sarcastically. "The dragons I've known can lie with the best of them, and can be just as evil as anyone or anything."

"You mean there's **more** dragons where you come from?" Dulcy asked her interest sparked more.

"Yes, we're not as common as the mammal species; especially my breed, but yes there are many of us." He admitted shaking his head.

Now that the situation had calmed down a bit Dr. Quack came around the table and began to finish wrapping the bandages. "Your breed?" Dr. Quack asked looking up as he continued to tighten the disheveled wrappings around the creature's upper chest. He quickly finished wrapping the chest and swiftly applied the dressings and wrappings on the few cuts across his arms.

"Yes, I am a Guardian Dragon." He calmly explained to the physician.

"I've never heard of such a species before?" Dulcy confusedly replied.

"Fair enough, I've never seen a species of dragon that looks quite like you before." He replied quickly, raising his arm as Dr. Quack began unrolling the long, white bandages around his other arm.

"How is that possible, Dulcy is what most of the dragons on Mobius look like." Rotor interjected.

"I don't know, but this is becoming very confusing." Slasher replied. Everyone in the room nodded their heads in agreement with the small dragon.

* * *

Robotropolis….

Deep within the dark and sinister bowels of Robotnik's fortress we find the evil dictator pondering over recent events. Sitting in his command chair; he impatiently awaits for the computers to complete their scan of the crystal. The crystal itself lay within a glowing chamber as it delicately floated within the glass tube. Eerie blue lights shone from above and below the crystal. As the beams shone over the ruby crystal itself the light passed through it and refracted inside the crystal and exited at all sorts of odd angles. Finally the beams winked out and the gem gently floated down to the bottom of the empty tube of glass.

"Sir, preliminary scans of the gem are complete, sir." Snively reported.

"Excellent, display them on screen now." Robotnik ordered as he approached Snively from behind. Snively pushed a few glowing buttons on the panel and, as ordered the screens flashed the lists of readings gathered from the scan.

Robotnik menacing red and black eyes scanned over the report thoroughly, but something didn't add up. _"The creature transformed after touching the crystal, therefore it must have some power that would allow it to do so; yet there appeared to be no residual energy emissions coming from the crystal like a Chaos Emerald would. There had to be some sort of power within the crystal, there had to be."_

"Snively, continue with further testing, I want to know everything there is to know about this gem." He ordered.

"Yes sir." Snively replied pushing another series of buttons which caused the glass tube holding the silver-encrusted ruby to start working again and begin a new series of scans.

"_There is something I'm missing here, the crystal has power, I've seen it; but why can't I discover how to access it?" _Robotnik thought hard, trying to uncover the crystals secrets, but could think of nothing. All the initial scans served to prove was that this object was something completely new. Its chemical make up, mineral content, molecular shape, everything. And that knowledge did little to help Robotnik figure out what it was or how it could be used._ "It looks it would seem that the only way to learn what this thing can do; is to have another little 'talk' with him…."_ He glumly admitted to himself.

"Snively, send for my badnik's immediately, I have a job for them with them." He said with a cruel smile creeping underneath his thick mustache.

* * *

Back at Knothole Medical…

"So you're the only ones left on the whole planet that can fight this… Robotnik, person?" Slasher asked; recapping the story the Freedom Fighters had relayed to him moments ago.

"We're not the only ones left; there are others, but we are badly outnumbered by his robotic armies." Sally explained, depression creeping into her voice.

"So this army Robotnik possesses, it's made up of robots and machines?" All the Freedom Fighters reply by nodding yes to Slasher's question. "And those two bone-heads I carved up last night, Coconuts and Crabmeat, they were robots as well, not regular people?" everyone nodded as he tried to grasp the idea. "Hmmm… I think I got it but I'm still not quite sure about all this technology stuff is."

"You're kidding right?" Sally groaned in disbelief. Slasher only shook his head no.

"You mean to say zat you know nothing of ze technology?" Antoine reiterated in his bad accent. Once again Slasher simply shrugged and nodded to the question.

"Umm… okay this is Nicole, she's an example of technology. Rotor made her for me in his workshop." Sally pointed to the small hand held computer in her arms as she sot out an example.

"What is it supposed to do?" Slasher asked in his curiosity.

"Well, she helps me to keep track of schedules, plan our attacks, retrieve intelligence…" Sally listed off a number of Nicole's functions.

"Really; how does something so small help you do all that?" he asked peering closer at the tiny computer, his reaching an arm out to touch it.

He got a little too close for Nicole's liking however, and before Slasher could touch her inquisitively, she shouted at him. "Back off bub!"

"(Whoah) That thing is sentient!" Slasher exclaimed as the computer yelled at him; recoiling back in surprise.

"Sorry about that, ever since Sonic got to her a while back she can be a bit snippy at times." Sally apologized glaring at Sonic in blaming manner.

"But how can that thing be conscious of its' surroundings; it's certainly an impressive spell." he said still baffled.

"Magic, hah." Sonic laughed out loud. "Man, you can't tell me you believe in all that magical mumbo-jumbo!"

"I do." Slasher replied coldly to the blue hedgehog. "It's likely how I got here in the first place."

"What do you mean?" Sally asked, speaking for all of the puzzled faces in the room.

"Well the crystal I have here in my…" Slasher reached into the top pocket of his sash, feeling around for the gem, but finding nothing. "MY CRYSTAL! Where's my crystal!" he shouted in shocked panic, realizing it was missing. He spun around the room frantically trying to spot the small gem, but he could see no trace of it anywhere.

"Slasher… Slasher, calm down." Sally shouted grabbing hold of the panicking dragons' upper arms holding him fast. Slasher settled down a little in Sally's strong grip, giving Sally enough confidence to continue. "Listen, that crystal was lost in Robotropolis when we rescued you." Sally calmly explained.

"You mean fatso has MY crystal! I have to…" Slasher tried to head for the door, but Sally still held him tight.

"Slasher, you're in no condition to head off into Robotropolis and pick a fight. Besides we don't even know where Robotnik has your crystal. Besides you don't know your way around Robotropolis; you'll get lost if you go there by yourself. Don't worry we'll get it back, but in the mean time you need to rest and get your strength back." As Sally spoke, Slasher still looked longingly to the door and opened his mouth to protest, but Sally took hold of Slasher's head and turned it to meet her eyes. "Please, you have to trust us."

Slasher sighed in defeat and let himself relax under her grip. "Very well your highness." Sally nodded, satisfied with the creatures response. Encouraged by this she let go of his arms and turned to Sonic.

"Sonic, think you can make a quick recon run to Uncle Chuck's and see what you can find out?" Sally asked, knowing full well Sonic wouldn't be able to resist the opportunity to see some action rather then talk. "As for the rest of us, we have a debriefing for tonight's raid at eight o' clock."

Everyone acknowledged Sally and rose from their seats to leave. "I'm on it like chilly on a dog, Sal." Sonic rose and was just about to zoom out the door when Bunnie grabbed his arm before he could zip off.

"Hold on there Sugar-Hog, ya'll best get a power ring first." Bunnie explained, releasing Sonic's arm as she finished her sentence. Sonic conceded to her logic, but grumbled as he left the room, placing the ice pack back on his bruised face. The other Freedom Fighters filed out of the room with beleaguered and tired expressions, showing they'd had quite a bit of excitement for one day. Dulcy pulled her head out of the window and sent a surge of wind blasting through the open window as she flew off.

The only ones left in the room now were the Princess and the crimson coloured stranger. "Princess, I would like to help if I can." The lizard-like creature commented holding out his hands in friendly gesture.

"I'm sure you would, but for now, you need to recover from last night, you won't do anyone any good in your condition." Sally replied in gratitude.

"Your highness, I've been through worse, believe me, I can still fight. It's what I've been trained for since I was born." Slasher proudly stated, beating his fist against his bandaged chest. "I swore to protect the rightful rulers of their lands and the inhabitants of those lands, to serve justice, protect the weak and defenseless, show mercy to my enemies and fight with honor. I would be honored to stand by your side." He stated bowing before the princess as he had done previously outside.

"Stand up already, and knock off the formalities, just call me Sally." Sally replied waving her hand, dismissing the royal treatment from the bowing creature.

"As you wish; your majesty." Slasher replied bowing his head respectfully as he stood up. When he saw Sally's stern gaze he quickly corrected himself. "Sorry… Sally." Instantly the stern look on Sally's face brightened up, pleased at the correction.

"Much better; now, come on." Sally said in a much more cheerful voice.

Sally walked out the door and Slasher followed her out the door with a smile on his face. _"It may not be home, but at least I'm among friends."_

Outside the room Sonic awaited the princess and gave a scowl to the creature as he followed her out. "Sal, can we talk." Sonic asked; his tone uncharacteristically serious.

"Sure Sonic, Slasher; go on ahead to the lobby please." She beckoned Slasher on with a wave of her hand. Slasher nodded his head and continued down the hallway; the sharp claws on his feet making an odd clicking and scrapping noise on the wooden floor.

"Alright, what's the problem?" Sally asked already knowing Sonic's concern from his expression.

"Are you sure we can trust this guy Sal, you heard him in there, he's a trained kill'n machine, how do we even know he's not work'n for 'ole buttnik!" Sonic exclaimed.

"Sonic, if he was here to attack us, he wouldn't have spared us when he had the chance to kill us." Sally said trying to appear calm and in control.

"We don't know that! He could be just trying to get us to trust him and then BAM he leads Robotnik right to us!" he says slamming his fist into his other glove for emphasis.

"Sonic, he had me at his mercy after he knocked you out; all he had to do was ever so slightly twitch those blades and I would have been dead before I hit the ground." She said, her voice resolved and unflinching. "Instead, he backed down and even got on his knee and practically swore his allegiance just now. In fact, he could have easily killed you if he hadn't retracted his blades; but he pulled them back at the last second and only hit you with his fist. He wouldn't have hesitated like that if he's an assassin working for Robotnik, especially if he's been trained as a warrior since birth like he says."

Sonic pondered about this, he had been unconscious for most of the fight, and the others had only briefly described what happened after he had been knocked out. He never knew that the situation had been that dire, of course Tails exaggerated the events a little, many in his amazement at seeing Sally fight like that, but he hadn't mentioned how close Sally had been to dieing. "Alright Sal, but I still don't trust 'em." He conceded to her logic, not like he could ever win an argument with her, but his expression still showed his dislike of the idea.

"Good, then you won't mind him staying with you and Tails for now." Sally said with a goading smile on her face.

The hedgehog's eye already big eyes widened even farther and his mouth dropped in shock at the idea. "Say wha? You want me 'n Blade-fer-brains as roomies? When did you decide that?"

"Just now." She replied grinning wide as she enjoyed his little fit.

"No way, no how, nuh uh, ain't gonna happen Sal." He shook his head and hands defiantly in front of the princess as he protested.

"Oh, it's gonna happen Sonic, like it or not. Besides if you don't trust him as much as you say, what better way for you to keep an eye on him?" Sally crossed her arms and put a face on that said she wasn't going to budge on this. Her expression changed to a crooked grin as she said. "Or maybe you don't like him simply because he beat you and your jealous?"

That struck a nerve, Sonic glared at her for a few moments trying to think of a come-back, but could find none. "Fine, he can stay at my place, but I'm not jealous." He finally said bitterly.

Sally nodded in personal satisfaction. "Now, we better get going, I've still got to finish planning tonight's raid. And you better get to the ring pond and get a ring."

"Sure thing, Sal." Sonic zipped out of the hospital like a bat out of hell leaving a wake of flying papers and a rush of wind in his wake. "(Groan) _I wish he'd stop doing that indoors."_ Sally groaned to herself before she walked down the hallway towards the lobby.

As Sally walked into the lobby she instantly spotted Slasher, not like it was hard, the numerous bandages that now covered much of his chest were hard to miss against the distinct contrast of his deep crimson skin. Most of his chest, his right shoulder, as well a small part of his upper arms were wrapped up in bandages. A small scrape across his left cheek was the only cut visible, but it only helped to remind Sally of the recent incident with a turning sensation in her stomach.

She had to smile however when she spotted Tails having what appeared to be a friendly chat with Slasher. They seemed to be hitting it off very well, which gave Sally an idea. "Hey, Tails, getting along with the new guy are we?" Sally greeted cheerfully.

"Ya, he's pretty cool, Aunt Sally. He says he's fought dozens of bad guys at a time on his own and won; just like Sonic." Tails said excitedly, rushing over to Sally and giving her a big hug.

"Really?" she patronized him as she returned the hug. "Well I'm glad to see that you two are getting along, cause I'm going to have him stay with you and Sonic for now." She finished as she let Tails out of her hug.

Tails eye's lit up with excitement. "Really, awesome! C'mon Slasher I wanna show you around." He shouted happily as he took Slasher's hand and proceeded to drag Slasher behind him.

Before they got out the door however Sally grabbed hold of Slasher's shoulder and stopped the two of them. "Just a sec Tails I need to talk to Slasher for a second. How 'bout he meets you outside after we're finished." She suggested as she pulled Slasher away from the door.

Tails cheerfully agreed and walked outside. Sally could see that she had Slasher's full attention. "Listen Slasher, I'm going out on a limb here by trusting you. If you do anything to harm Tails or Sonic, so help me; you'll wish you hadn't." she threatened waving a finger at him; her tone giving the dragon every indication that he should believe her.

"You care for the hedgehog a great deal don't you?" Slasher replied in a deep empathetic voice.

His response surprised Sally, and she could not think of anything to say; she wasn't certain if she could tell him the truth or not because if he was an enemy he'd use that knowledge against her, but if he wasn't a threat she didn't want to embarrass herself. Slasher saw this hesitation and decided that he didn't need an answer. "It's alright Princess. I promise you, no harm will come to them by my hand. And I will do my best to protect them if trouble should arise." He said in the deep soothing tone he had used a moment ago.

Sally was again surprised by the creature's words, but she smiled in relief at them. She turned to walk out the doors and Slasher walked by her side. "Is it that obvious?" she asked as they parted the doors of the hospital.

Slasher smiled and laughed a little. "(Heh, heh) I might be a warrior princess, but I could see how much you love him as soon as you attacked me." Sally could feel her cheeks grow warm as she blushed. "The ferocity you attacked with, the pain I could see in your eyes, the way you fought like there was nothing left to lose, it was pretty plain."

"Wow, you** are** good." She blushed more from his accurate assessment of her emotions in the fight.

"Highness, when you've fought as many battles as I have, you start to pick up things like that in fight. And emotions are easy to read in battle, in some ways it's a gateway to the soul." Slasher laughed at the complement and scratched his head in embarrassment. The pair walked outside the doors and were instantly greeted by Tails as he waited patiently outside.

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Meanwhile in Robotropolis…

Dr. Robotnik sat upon his command chair, impatiently tapping away on the arm of the chair as he continued to stare at the readings that were still displayed on the large computer before him; trying to decipher the odd readings. Suddenly a door to the command room swooshed open and Snively entered the room, followed by numerous other mechanical creatures.

The robots came in various shapes and sizes, but all were cold and metallic minions of Robotnik. Two familiar figures walked into the room last, and a bit on edge. Crabmeat entered first, still twisting his new left arm back into place while Coconuts walked in carrying his head under his arm, grumbling about being called away before repairs could be finished.

The other robots lined up in front of Robotnik's chair like a group of soldiers, though, none of them looked alike. The first one to the left was a tall and slender looking, silver coloured chicken by the name of Scratch. The one beside him, called Gounder, was a teal robot that rested on a pair of caterpillar tracks. Its arms and nose ended in drill bits, but they could change into any other machine he needed. Next to him floated a very ugly looking wasp-like 'bot called Buzz-bomber. Its metallic yellow and black body bristled with needle-like missiles and its cold unmoving eyes made it a very fearsome looking machine indeed. The next one over, known as Cater-killer, consisted of series of purple spheres connected by a complex mechanism that held them together and allowed it to move about. Adorning its body were multiple razor sharp spikes and a powerful jaw on its 'head' that could snap the bone any poor animal that got caught in its powerful grasp. The next one over hovered silently about half a meter off the ground using its anti-gravity device to control its hovering. A magnetic polarity device held about five smaller spheres within an invisible magnetic field; allowing the spike-covered balls to orbit the red, spheroid body of Orbinaut. Like all the others, its 'eyes' held a no emotion in them, only a deep hatred for all living things. The last two bots, Crabmeat and Coconuts, were quick to fall in line beside them.

Of course even this array of impressive war-machines had already proven to be

in-capable of stopping Sonic the Hedgehog. Mainly cause they were all morons, they had very simple brains, all most one-track minds at times, but not as bad as the Swatbots. They had their uses since they were more intelligent then the mindless drones of robotisized Mobians and Swatbots so they could be used to coordinate defense and other menial tasks like coordinating construction projects and even security after their first miserable defeat by the hedgehog. But for the task at hand, they might be far better suited.

"Sir, I brought the 'Badnik's as you asked, sir." Snively stated; unnecessarily as far as Robotnik was concerned.

"I can see that, you dolt!" he bellowed at the small minion. Snively shuddered in fear at Robotnik's shouting, the unfeeling 'bots however didn't flinch a bit under the loud noise. "Alright you miserable failures, I have a job for you…" he glowered evilly pushing a button on his command chair. The read-outs on the monitors quickly changed to display a picture of the creature. "I want you to go into the Great Forest and track down this creature." He ordered directing the robots attention to the monitors behind them. And to assist you I'm going to give each of you some upgrades."

All the robots looked at each other with happy expressions. Coconuts' eye's bulge and he quickly whips his head onto its rightful place with a solid clank. "Does this mean we're getting a second chance?" he asked hopingly.

"Yes my mechanical monkey. Complete this task and I will give you all much better duties then the ones you currently fulfill for me. I might even find it in my black heart to do a complete upgrade on all of you. Just remember the price of failure." Robotnik clenched his fist and spoke with venom in his voice. "He will no doubt try to retrieve his crystal, and when he does, I want him taken… ALIVE…."

(! BUM BUM BUMMMM…… (more ominous music) !)

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End Ch 6

Phew, well, my pants are extinguished just in time. another chapter down and the story takes another twist. What do you think thus far? Please R&R. and to reiterate Slasher is NOT a digimon. And I know Slasher is a kind of silly name, but I think it suites him. How do you like that, I managed to get all the 'Badniks into the mix as well, "YAY for me!


	7. Ch 7 History 101

Just for anyone new to the story and hasn't bothered to read the disclaimers before, I'll reiterate:

(AHEM ) I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog and any and all related characters, locations and plot elements that have ever appeared in the comic or television series. They are own by Sega and all respective owners. This fanfic is written without their written consent and in no way reflects on the owner's vision of the Sonic universe. Any and all characters appearing in this story which have never made a prior appearance in the Sonic the Hedgehog series past or present as well as the plot of this story is rightfully owned by the Author and should not be copied or used by anyone without the written consent of the Author.

(Man I think I talk too much.) Sorry it took so long to update, I had a tough time writing this chapter. I wasn't quite sure how to put everything into this chapter, not to mention figuring out where to cut it off. Just so you know; things are going to get a lot more exciting after this chapter so thank you to anyone who has toughed out the boring stuff to this point. Please keep sending in the reviews, your replies are much appreciated. Sorry for any brackets or symbols that keep going missing when I upload the chapters, it's really starting to annoy me.

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**A Visitor from Afar**

**Ch. 7 History 101**

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Knothole…

Slasher and Sally walked through the hospital doors into the bright mid-morning sunlight with smiles on their faces from the chat they just had inside. Tails spotted them and in an instant stood up and greeted them. "Aunt Sally', can I take Slasher on a tour now?" he asked hopefully.

"Sure thing Tails, just remember that we have a meeting later tonight." She reminded the small fox waving a finger at him.

"No problem 'Aunt' Sally; c'mon Slasher, I'm going to show you the village." Tails excitedly grabbed hold of Slasher's arm, pulling him away from the Princess. Under the force of the energetic kit, Slasher feebly tried to wave goodbye to her, but it was only a single wave before he got pulled in a new direction that caused his hand to fall back to his side. Sally smiled at the creature's attempt and thought to herself. _'I think he's going to have his hands full with Tails.'_

"Hey kid, you mind if we slow down a bit?" Slasher pleaded as Tails continued to yank him through the village at a near-jogging pace.

"Gee, sorry Slasher, I guess I'm just used to moving around that fast." Tails apologized as he realized for the first time that Slasher was having difficulty keeping up and let go of the dragons arm.

"It's alright; I'm just used to walking more slowly." Slasher replied, taking some time to compose himself and straightening out the sash on his chest. Slasher looked around the village and began to take in the surroundings. "So, this is Knothole Village?" he asked gazing upon the many wooden and straw-roofed huts.

"Yup, home sweet home." Tails answered.

"So, where do you live?" Slasher asked.

"On the other side of the village, I can show you that later, c'mon I wanna show you someplace really cool." He replied, growing more excited as he finished his sentence.

"Well then lead on Tails." Slasher replied waving his arm forward for Tails to lead on. Tails nodded cheerfully and took the lead though the many huts and around the many more trees that were strewn about within the village. "So many creature's here in one Village…" Slasher observed as he looked around while Tails lead on.

"Yea, a lot of people lost their homes when Robotnik took over Mobotropolis; many came here." Tails explained, his voice sounding depressed.

"Mobotropolis?" Slasher asked as he walked up beside the young kit.

"It used to be our home city, but then Robotnik took it over and called it Robotropolis." He explained solemnly.

Slasher made a deep growl of anger in his throat and clenched his fists at the twisted fiends mention. "So then what?" he asked turning his face to the side to see the depressed look on Tails face.

"Well, we formed the Freedom Fighters and have been takin' it to 'em since." Tails replied, perking up a little. Slasher, having no reason to object, nodded and followed the kit through the village. The odd pair walked through the village, Slasher still drawing many puzzling gazes as they went towards the center of the village. They crossed over the small wooden bridge that traversed a clear, pristine creek that cut through the small village. It split a little upstream and created a large delta.

It was then that Slasher noticed the enormous oak tree at the heart of the small community. It was a truly massive tree, it had to be at least one hundred meters across at the base, and its trunk went high into the canopy above. The lowest of branches that could be picked out from the canopy were probably half a meter around themselves. It was the largest tree he had ever seen, at least where he came from.

In this jaw dropped stupor Tails poked Slasher in the ribs, bringing him back to reality. He pointed to a small structure at the base of the large oak tree, the central assembly hall, before them. Slasher gazed upon the building in awe. The building stood at the base of the large oak tree, and it easily dwarfed the size of the rather large building before it. The building was the central meeting hall for the Freedom Fighters, most often for celebrations and large scale meetings; as Tails explained. It had only a few walls to it since the curved, sail-like roofs connected right to the ground. Therefore the building was exposed to the open air, but provided a good rain shield. Tails explained all of this as he and Slasher entered the impressive structure.

"The main thing I like about this building is that when I was younger, me and Sonic would play hide and seek all the time. This was my favorite hiding spot. Tails explained reminiscing about the days of old.

Slasher nodded, being familiar with such a game, but something bothered him about what the kit had said. Slasher glanced around the large, open space, but could only see a variety of picnic tables, and a large fireplace along the back wall; but nothing that could be thought of as a really good hiding spot. "I don't understand, Tails, this doesn't look like such a great hiding spot to me."

"Not down here no…" Tails giggled at how Sonic had the same reaction when he had finally revealed his hiding spot to his close friend. "Up there…" he said pointing up at the overhanging web of heavy timber rafters above.

"Up there? How did you manage to climb all the way up there?" Slasher asked staring at the rafters high above.

"I didn't have to climb up there." Tails explained.

"Didn't climb, but then how… did…" Slasher voice died away in his throat from what he saw before him.

"I flew up!" Tails proclaimed proudly as his twin tails held his lithe body above the ground at Slasher's eye-level. Slasher was completely dumb-struck, speechless, and flat out baffled.

Slasher broke out of his stupor after a moment and still found it hard to think of something to say. "That… how…I… that's amazing!" he finally spouted out.

"Really, you don't think it's weird that I have two tails?" Tails asked innocently, and sounding a little insecure as he returned to the ground and pointed to his twin appendages.

"If I could do that, I wouldn't mind having a spare one myself." He replied back with great vigor; felling a little envy for his young friend.

Tails expression quickly skipped from insecure and nervous to excited and happy. "Really, that's not all I can do with them either!" he proudly exclaimed, grabbing his hands behind his back and rolling on his feet to contain his excitement.

"I have a few tricks up my sleeve too, put nothing like that, could you show me them?" Slasher asked, getting excited himself.

"Umm, I wanted to show you something else first, then I can take you to the training center on the other side of the village and show you there." Tails suggested, scratching the back of his head as he pondered the layout of the village.

"Sounds good, let's go." Slasher agreed happily.

The duo proceeded through the village, Slasher glanced this way and that like a tourist as he took in the sites and sounds of his new surroundings. Everything looked so familiar, and yet seemed so different. Tails took the dragon through rows of huts and staring crowds of Mobians, Slasher found himself even getting used to the staring. They cleared the huts and continued through an open field of grass that lay before a steep cliff face. From this distance Slasher could faintly make out what looked like a cave entrance within the rough stone.

Before they could cross the large field they suddenly paused as they heard someone shouting at them. Slasher naturally looked behind him, but saw no one at ground level. When the voice called again, both Tails and Slasher looked up into the sky in time to see a large girth descending on them from out of the glare of the sun. They both realized that whatever it might be wasn't slowing down. Theyd dove to the side as Dulcy's large body crashed into the ground with a loud thud, skidding across the grassy field for a meter or so.

Tails shook his head from the sudden jarring movement and looked over at Dulcy. She already began picking herself up and dusting herself off as Tails rushed over to her. "You okay, Dulcy?" Tails asked his concern apparent as he helped brush some grass off of her.

"I'm fine… always the landings..." She grumbled to herself, straightening the black harness she wore on her chest.

"What; didn't get enough from last time, so you want to drop on me from the sky now?" Slasher asked coldly, a bit cross and annoyed.

"Sorry about that, my landings have always been a bit sloppy." She apologized, blushing in embarrassment. "What I really want is to have a talk with you."

Slasher looked at her with distrust, and raised his eye brow patronizingly. "Alright, what did you want to know? He asked folding his arms over his chest pessimistically.

"I want to know about the other dragons you've met; what are they like?" She asked hopefully.

"Why would you want to know about that? Slasher asked a bit surprised by her topic of interest.

"Dragons are so rare around here; I've hardly ever met any other dragons before now. I want to know about the dragons you've meet." She said innocently. "Robotnik killed or captured most of the dragons, I'm probably the last of my kind." Her head drooped at the mention of the many slaughtered dragons.

"Well…" Slasher was taken aback by Dulcy's words; the Freedom Fighters had never mentioned anything like that before. While the thought of an entire species, practically his own kind, wiped out saddened him as well; Slasher felt a little guilty at his harsh treatment towards her. "Dulcy, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have acted like that to you." He solemnly apologized for his behavior.

"Hey, it's alright, you didn't know." Dulcy stated waving her short arm dismissively.

"How did you know?" Slasher asked surprised by Dulcy's uncanny assessment of his thoughts.

"I told you, my kind are pure at heart, so we can pick out the truth of others, and besides; you're obviously not from around here, so I can't expect you to know everything about us now can I." Dulcy smiled calmly with a warm grin.

"Well, exactly what would you like to know?" Slasher asked; a hint of condolence in his voice.

"Are all dragons as mean and vicious as you said?" the pale green dragoness asked.

"Well… not all of them, some are friendly, but most of them are pretty rough customers. Slasher replied grimly. "…and they look very different then you do."

"How so?" Tails asked finding the dragons conversation quite interesting.

"They're much more… fearsome looking…" Slasher twirled his hand, trying to find the right words to express his meaning. "Most have large horns coming off their heads, and most are quadrupeds; very strong and powerful and their claws are big and sharp."

"They sound scary." Tails admitted, curling his two tails around his body.

"Believe me, they aren't easy to fight; their skins are very tough, and that makes them very hard to kill." Slasher said grimly.

"You kill them!" Dulcy exclaimed, anger beginning to build in her.

"I take no pleasure in admitting it, but if I don't they would gladly kill every mammal on the face of the world." Slasher stated sternly. "They tried once before, and almost succeeded, that's how I came to be."

"**What,** do you mean by that?" Dulcy asked sternly placing her tiny hands on her hips as she leaned in menacingly close; anger boiling in the large dragon.

"It's a long story, you sure you want to hear it?" Slasher asked; a questioning look on his face.

"I got time." Dulcy replied, folding her small arms across her broad chest as she sat down in front of Slasher; waiting for a good explanation.

"Me too." Tails chimed in, taking a seat next to Dulcy; equally interested.

"(Sigh)Alright, you win…" Slasher raised his hands up in defeat. "Thousands of years ago, six thousand if my human friends are right; humans were not the only sentient species on a planet they called Earth. Every species on the planet had evolved to a sentient, level. Every species, Mammals, lizards, reptiles all evolved to sentient, anthropomorphic (having human-like features, e.g. torso structure, hands, bi-pedal). Even some of the creatures that had survived the great disaster of old, our human friends call them dinosaurs. Strange creatures roamed the planet as well, from dangerous and deadly creatures like hydras; to mystical and beautiful beasts like flying horses and gryphon's. They were strange times indeed, most of the other creatures co-existed with their surroundings in peace, but the humans saw fit to erect homes and villages and castles and fortresses. They disturbed their natural surrounds to build monuments to their own glory and survival. When the world was beginning anew, humans didn't fully know about the many different peoples they shared the planet with, or the actual size and scope of their world.

Dragons were mighty descendants of the great disaster of ages ago, and as they emerged from the destruction wrought by the disaster, they watched as nature rebuilt itself and watched as the burnt world breathed life back onto its surface. Many were bitter with the terrible lot fate had dealt them, their species had evolved to their peak just prior to the destruction of the world; they dominated the evolutionary ladder in their time. They sought to stop all the creatures that battled for survival to climb that evolutionary ladder so that they would always remain unchallenged in their status. They were always predatory in nature, but even their voracious appetite could not stop the evolution of the many varied and wide spread life that over time grew and evolved to reach the state of evolution where they no longer acted purely on primal instincts, becoming sentient.

The dragons never liked how their world had been so utterly and completely changed in such a short time. But they most resented the lowly mammals that had survived the disaster and in time slowly began to evolve to become their equals. They barely tolerated the sentient mammals, and as such were the prey of the dragons. They did not hate the lizards and reptiles as they had seen how powerful these creatures evolved into prior to the great disaster. The dragons only respected power, and the survival of lowly, scurrying little mammals surviving the disaster were an insult to them.

But dragons held a deep, festering loathing for humans. Not only did the humans disturb the world that the dragons had watched rebuild itself, they, unlike all others fought back against the dragons. They refused to be another link in the dragon's food chain. They fought back hard, using the weapons they crafted from the land, and in time they began to learn how to kill dragons, and the dragons feared what the humans might become. They did not want the humans to replace them as the dominant species of the planet.

So the dragons killed humans any chance they got. Not for food, but for the sport of it. The humans fought back, but their numbers were no match for the power an individual dragon could unleashed. Mighty warriors arose to battle the dragons; many fell in battle against a single dragon, but many more arose after them to try and kill the dragons. During this time of mayhem, death and destruction a clutch of dragon eggs fell into the hands of the humans. The mother of those eggs was a dragon who witnessed the horrors unleashed on a human village during a particular attack, and instead of laying waste to it as the others did, she defended the people; she became opposed the senseless slaughter the dragons set upon the humans. She stood by their side, fighting against her kin. In time she lay a clutch of eggs that she entrusted to the humans. For the betrayal of her own kind the dragons murdered her in a brutal, raw display of power. The eggs were raised by the humans as a last request from the dragon who had helped them.

The humans, by order of a powerful king of the humans, used magic on the hatchlings to make them become more human-like. The king hoped that this new breed of dragons could be used as emissaries to the dragons to negotiate peace between the races. But the plan back-fired.

The dragons were furious at what the humans had done the hatchlings and this escalated the conflict. Those hatchlings were branded as abominations by the pure-blood dragons, so they too sought to wipe them out as well.

As they were raised, the hatchlings saw the gentle and compassionate side of the human's society, and the dragon's society by contrast was harsh and unfeeling. The hatchlings felt a sense of duty to protect the humans as their mother had. They became great warriors, learning many human fighting styles, and mastering many weapons and tactics of the ancient humans. In time their breed became known as Guardian Dragons.

Many years and generations of bloody conflict followed, but for all the dragon's efforts, the humans and guardian dragons were no closer to being wiped out; if anything the races were becoming stronger and smarter. So, they made an alliance with the anthro-reptiles and lizards. Winning them over was child's play, they told them of their glory days before the great disaster, when their species ruled the planet. They joined the alliance at the drop of a hat.

A condition of the alliance however was that after their forces had wiped out the humans and guardian dragons; the dragons would help the lizard-reptile alliance to destroy all of the anthro-mammals. The dragons agreed to this term.

The humans discovered this plot and knew they could not repel such a massive army. And against it, the anthro-mammals stood no chance as well. It would take time for the dragon's army to assemble, so the humans spread word and warning of the impending war. The humans had long been asking for help from the mammals, but they had always stayed away from the fight, saying that the humans were just resisting the natural order of the world. The news of an impending, massive war convinced some of the species to join the humans cause. Many more, still refused; on the eve of battle they conceded to the logic of one of the great leaders of the guardian dragons and joined the combined allegiance.

The greatest battle the Earth has seen took place that morning and lasted throughout the day. The battle was fierce, both sides losing many warriors. The carnage stained the ground in the blood of the maimed and injured. That one day more blood was spilled then all the years and generations of conflict between the humans and dragons alone. One day was more then enough to settle the war, thanks to the added help of the mammals the humans emerged victorious. The remnants of the great cold-blooded alliance yielded to the victors. The dragons, despite their obvious defeat, refused to yield. The humans, not wanting to see more blood spilt used magic to banish the dragons and their allies to the dark regions of another world.

Peace finally settled on the planet, and for nearly two centuries the humans and mammals lived in peace together and the mammals were even the source of inspiration for many cultures (Eg. Egypt). But sadly the paranoid and superstitious minds of the common human folk worried about the destructive nature that the anthro's could unleash. Reluctantly the kings of the humans and anthros agreed that the discriminative nature of the ignorant humans could cause harm to the peace-loving mammals. It was agreed that since the mammals could adjust to new surrounding easier then the humans could they opened a portal to another world for the mammals to make a home in.

Humans and mammals built large ceremonial sites to house these portals around the world for the departing allies and were given an honorable farewell from those people who still remembered that terrible battle. The guardian dragons did not want to leave the race that had born our species. To those who we had sworn an allegiance with in the darkest of days and who we had fought with and bravely died beside in battle, but the humans convinced my kind that the humans would survive. The human kings, greatly saddened by having to see the creatures who had come to their aid in their darkest hour, asked one last favor of the Guardian Dragons; he asked them to watch over the creatures, as he worried about what dangers they might face in the new world they sought to restart their lives in. That day the Guild of Guardians was formed, and since has kept its word of honor to the ancient king. So, with great reluctance we went through the rift with the mammals and made a new home for ourselves. But before the leaders of the races departed the representing rulers of the humans swore a solemn vow to them all; "as you came to our aid in our darkest hour, so too do we humans vow to come to your aid if ever the need should arise."

In time that great battle passed into legend, the legend passed into myth, and in time was completely forgotten. We of the Guild preserved the story, but as the humans who aid us say, all remnants of that battle were hidden away forever and forgotten. The great portal monuments fell into disrepair over the millennia, their original meaning and significance the victims of time. In time the humans never even remembered that they once shared the Earth with other sentient life, but that was the price they paid for peace; and perhaps, maybe, it was better that the horrors of that time be, forgotten." Slasher finished his tale with a sigh.

Tails and Dulcy were speechless, their minds absorbing the twisted tale, for a long time before either of them could speak. "Wow, did all that really happen?" Tails asked gasping in astonishment.

"Yep, that's how I'm here now." Slasher affirmed with a confident nod of his head. "Though how I got '**here'** exactly is still a mystery to me." He admitted with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Well, even though I can tell your telling the truth, I'm still finding it hard to believe; I bet Sally would like to hear it as well." Dulcy confirmed lifting her bulky body from the grassy field. "I'm going to go find her and let know about this, alright?" she asked spreading her large wings out.

"I suppose so, I would've had to explain it to her sooner or later I think." Slasher shrugged.

"Okay then, catch you later Slasher." She waved goodbye as she beat her big pink wings and lifted off the ground with ease. As she flew up past the lower tree canopy Slasher couldn't help feel some envy for the winged dragoness flying gracefully away.

"Man, I'd give anything to be able to fly like that." Slasher moaned out loud. What surprised him as he said that though was that he had seen many flying creatures where he came from, so why did he feel so left out here?

"Maybe I can help you with that Slasher; I have something I want to show you that you might like." Tails comforted the dragon, walking behind him and placed his hand on his uninjured shoulder.

Slasher's face brightened up with his curiosity as he looked at Tails standing beside him. Slasher let Tails lead him on, heading towards that cave entrance he had first noticed in the cliff wall. They entered the dark cavern, but Slasher noticed a strong metal door just inside the caves entrance. Looking back Slasher could see that this door could not be seen from outside the cave, and by the looks of the narrow cave, a very defendable entrance. Slasher could not see any means to open the door, but Tails walked up to a small stalagmite near the cave wall and pulled on it, it flipped over on its hinge to reveal a small computer terminal. He punched in the entrance code and the door swiftly opened in response. The orange fox and the crimson dragon entered the cave and followed the illuminated cavern through its twists and turns.

"Welcome to Freedom Fighter Headquarters…" Tails smiled, spreading his arms out wide as he led the dragon out of the narrow entrance cavern and into the massive limestone cavern beyond. The cavern was ten meters high with hundreds of bright lights attached to the smoothed out roof. The Mobians that had been carrying out their normal duties stopped in their tracks and watched as the strange dragon entered the main chamber.

"It's okay guys, he's one of us." Tails assured the other Freedom Fighters. They looked at each other and shrugged before returning to their prior activities. "C'mon, let me show you around." He said eagerly.

"Hold up Tails…" someone from behind shouted.

Tails and Slasher wheeled around to see Sally approaching them. "Tails, where are you taking Slasher?" she asked forcing a non-authoritative smile on.

"I was just going to show Slasher around…" Tails replied, uncertain why Sally asked.

"Well, I'm afraid we can't allow him see everything in here."

"What! Why not?" Tails exclaimed.

"It's nothing personal Slasher, I trust you're not in league with Robotnik, but I still need to be cautious." Sally hoped her explanation would satisfy the pair.

"Can I at least show him the Tornado and Sea Fox?" Tails asked, those irresistible pleading blue eyes hitting Sally right where it hurt.

"Alright, but nothing more, understand?" Sally sighed; she never could say no when he did that sad-puppy-dog-look.

Tails' face lit up with excitement. "Yay! Thanks 'Aunt' Sally."

Tails grabbed hold of Slasher and rushed off, Tails once again forgetting Slasher was damaged goods. Sally smiled, watching Slasher's feeble attempts to keep up with the swift fox.

"In here is the old aquifer (! underground lake !)." Tails happily said opening the wooden door. The bright florescent lights hanging from the nearest wall automatically switched when the heavy door opened. The eerie sound of dripping water could be heard all over the cave, but of the sound within the cave were echoes. Stalactites hung precariously from the ceiling as water seeped down the length of them and fell into the deep lake. The lights were very bright, but as bright as they were, they could not penetrate the blinding darkness of the cave because of its size. They did however light the small catwalk lining the one wall where two, small watercraft floated, oblivious to the newcomers. One was a purple bathysphere and the other was a smaller tube shaped submersible with a blue and silver paint job, a bubble shaped canopy and a large drill bit-like nose for the machine.

"Wow…" was all Slasher could say to what he saw. A loud and long lasting echo followed Slasher's voice.

"That sub there is mine, it's called the 'Sea Fox'." Tails proudly stated pointing to the stubby little craft. Slasher gave him a look of disbelief, but he quickly smiled to say he was impressed by the small vehicle. "This ship has seen me through a whole bunch of adventures on my own, but my favorite is the Tornado."

"Tornado, you keep a tornado in this fortress? How?" he asked, not realizing what Tails was referring to.

"Heh, heh! Not a real tornado, c'mon, I'll show you." He laughed as he spun back around and left the water filled cavern behind. They proceeded through another corridor and entered a large, dark cavern. It was impossible to pick anything out in the darkness, except that the echoes seemed to carry for a very long time, meaning the cavern's size to be large indeed.

Tails, knowing by sheer repetition, found the switch to the lights. Bright lights clicked on off in distance to the right of the pair. Two lights attached to the roof aimed their beams at a black pavement that lined the floor of the cave, and two pot lights switched on next to the runway, making it possible to make out the runway even in darkness. The sets of lights activated in a slow, domino sequence; revealing the long, narrow, cave and the black runway that went the length of the cave, ending before a massive metal door that blocked the entrance to the cave, possibly to the outside. The cave was quite wide and tall, but distinguishable long and straight, thus why the echoes carried for so long.

But what most caught the dragon's attention as the lights, turning on with a loud click as each set activated, neared closer to them and eventually began to form a semi-circle within a relatively rounded portion of the cave, was the slender, gleaming, red and silver biplane resting on the smooth black tarmac. The red fuselage gleamed with its painstaking waxing and the gleaming sliver propeller shone with a mirror like quality. The engine cowling of the rotary engine was a beautiful metallic luster and had two small groves in the upper part of the cowling and ended at two bumps just in front of the cockpit that protruded from the rest of the smooth metal skin.

The long, slender fuselage, painted a well buffed scarlet red, with a thin stripe of silver running the length of the center of the fuselage then running up to cover most of the planes tail. The wide, wings extended a good three meters to each side of the fuselage. The wing tips were cut off squarely, making the plane surprisingly nimble in the air. On the central patch of silver on the tail, a thin red circle with a golden, five-point star painted inside and a set of pure white wings on each side of the circle.

"Meet the Tornado…" Tails professed with great pride. Slasher stood his jaw wide open as he gazed upon the majestic shape. "I broke my leg during a mission a few years ago and I was bored out of my skull, so I built this." Tails explained proudly pointing his thumb over his shoulder at the Tornado behind him.

"You built this!" Slasher gasped in surprise at the idea that someone obviously so young could build such a thing. "But, what is it?"

"It's a biplane." Tails said, but seeing the confused expression on Slasher's face he quickly thought of an easier explanation. "It's a flying machine." He corrected himself.

Slasher stepped back in amazement at statement. "You mean that 'machine' can fly?" he said pointing his finger in disbelief at the large airplane. To this Tails nodded his head affirmatively and walked up the right wing on the Tornado and ran his hands on the smooth surface of the metal wing. "I've flown it dozens of times myself." Tails grinned with pride.

Slasher walked beside Tails and began to feel the smooth surface of the wing as well. His hand ran along the wing until it struck one of the two support struts, which his hand began to run up as well. "Want me to show you how this bird works?" Tails offered. Slasher looked to the shorter fox in surprise and nodded his head with zeal. Tails pulled himself onto the lower wing and gingerly moved to the cockpit of the relatively small plane. Tails looked over his shoulder and waved for Slasher to follow him; Slasher hopped onto the wing and got beside Tails on the wing of the plane.

So engrossed in his observations of the fascinating machine before him; Slasher failed to notice the door to the hangar-sized cave open and a large figure enter the room. The bulky purple walrus waddled into the room and smiled at how Tails and Slasher were completely oblivious to his presence and at how Tails took so much pride in his creation.

(Ahem) Rotor cleared his throat loudly to get the attention of the pair. "Tails, I hate to interrupt, but Sally needs to see you right away." Rotor explained as the duo looked back to see the walrus standing near the doorway.

"Oh, all right, Rotor; c'mon Slasher." Tails waved Slasher to follow him as he leapt off the Tornado's silver wing.

"**He, **isn't invited, Tails." Rotor stated holding his hand out to stop the young kit and his dragon friend.

"But…" Tails began to protest, but Slasher cut him off. "It's alright Tails, I think I would rather to explore a little more anyway." He calmly smiled.

"Well, alright; how about we meet up later then." Tails suggested with his spirits high. Slasher nodded yes.

"Fine, c'mon Tails lets go." Rotor said as he led the young kit out the door. Slasher walked out the door as well, giving one last admiring glance back at the Tornado. As he looked back, he noticed something behind the Tornado, it looked to be a much larger airplane, but he shrugged his shoulders. Grabbing hold of the door, he thought of what it might be like to fly in the Tornado. Closing the door behind him the lights automatically switched off.

Slasher turned away from the door and began to walk down the corridor in the opposite direction that Tails and Rotor were walking. Rotor looked behind him and spotted where Slasher was headed and quickly turned around and ran up behind the shorter dragon. "Ahem." Rotor said in a very commanding and authoritative way. Slasher promptly turned around unsure why the walrus was trying to be so serious. "Explore elsewhere, pal." Rotor sternly said behind clenched teeth.

"What; don't trust me do you?" Slasher sassed coldly putting his hands on his hips innocently.

"Sally might be willing to trust you, but **I** don't, so you better not try anything; cause I'll be watching you!" he replied harshly glowering over the shorter reptile, waving his finger in front of his face.

"Save it, I've heard those kind of threats before, and I'm still here aren't I?" Slasher knocked Rotor's hand away dismissively. "But if it makes you feel better, I'll explore the village some more." Slasher backed down and turned away from the looming aquatic mammal, taking a few more steps down the corridor. "Of course, if you **told** me which way was out, I'd be gone a lot faster." He smirked over his shoulder.

Rotor sighed in frustration and raised his hand pointing down the corridor ahead of him. "Follow this hallway and take your first left; that should take you outside to the training area." Slasher nodded and proceeded down the hallway following Rotor's instructions.

Satisfied with the result; Rotor turned back to Tails, who had stopped to watch the exchange between the two, and walked towards him. Tails' expression clearly showed he did not like how Rotor had just spoken to Slasher; and Rotor readied himself for the inevitable conversation.

"That wasn't very nice Rotor." Tails scolded placing his hands on his hips.

"Tails, we don't know if we can trust this guy, you might have shown him too much already." Rotor sighed, really not wanting to have to explain himself.

"Well, I trust him." Tails insisted. "And I don't think he's any threat at all."

Sigh "Forget it, c'mon, Sally and Sonic are waiting." Rotor quickly changed the subject and hastily walked ahead of Tails deeper into the heart of the compound.

"I thought Sonic left for Robotropolis?" Tails puzzled as he struggled to keep up with the large steps of Rotor.

"And he just got back, that's why we need to see Sally, she's waiting with Antoine to see what he found out." Rotor explained, his own anxiety making him forget how fast he was moving.

* * *

End Ch 7 

like i said before plot will start heating up now! stay tuned


	8. Ch 8 Fight! Fight! Fight!

okay disclaimers and such are on ch 1 so don't bug me about that shit, on with the show...

* * *

**A Visitor From Afar**

**Ch 8. Fight! Fight! Fight!

* * *

**

A short while later, outside…….

The instructions were easy enough to follow, and Slasher soon found himself standing before what looked like a very heavy metal door, much like the one he had first see before entering this maze of tunnels. This one seemed less complex as the last one, since there seemed to be a wheel in the center of the door that looked like it controlled the doors locking mechanism. Slasher gripped the cold metal wheel and heaved with all his might to turn it. It wouldn't budge, then he tried twisting it in the other direction; it opened without any difficulty. Slasher grinned at his own stupidity and opened the hefty door with a solid push.

As the door cracked open bright light began to spill into the comparatively dimmer hallway as it swung open on its heavy hinges. What lay beyond took the young dragon a moment to focus on as his eyes slowly adjusted to the bright day light outside. A gentle breeze assured him that he was indeed outside and as his vision cleared he could make out a building directly in front of him. It was a large building with a rounded off, metal roof and a row of small windows just underneath the roof. Some smaller buildings were attached to the large one but sprawled out more horizontally then vertically as the main one did. From the walrus's explanation, Slasher gathered that this was the training center he had mentioned.

Slasher paid little attention to this as the sounds of metal hitting wood reached his large, but thin ears. He quickly guessed where the sound was coming from as his ears swiveled around like a cats' and darted off to find the source.

He streaked around a corner of the building and stopped dead in his tracks as he saw what had made the noises. Slasher saw a small, circular ring surrounded by a meter high wall of wood that was divided on two sides by a small gap on opposite sides; green grass lined the floor of the ring, though it looked as though many matches had been fought here considering how badly worn out the grass appeared.

Another sound of metal against wood snapped Slasher's attention away from his observations and back to the source of the sound. Inside the ring Bunnie Rabbot busily punched at a wood and straw training dummy; practicing some hand to hand combat. Slasher watched, mesmerized by her fluid movements, as Bunnie planted hit after devastating hit with her robotic limbs. The dummy buckled and swayed with sickeningly splintering sounds coming from the tortured wood. "_Strange, she hits with such force with her armored limbs, yet her right arm is almost completely idle."_ Slasher pondered this oddity in this female warrior so hard that he failed to notice that Bunnie had become aware of his presence.

"Well hullo there, Sugar." Bunnie greeted cheerfully as she wiped some sweat from her forehead with the soft fur on her right arm.

"Um, hello… uh, Bunnie, was it?" Slasher stuttered, caught off guard by the greeting. Bunnie nodded while giggling to herself and waved him over to her. Encouraged by the warm welcome, Slasher approached the ring and entered the ring through one of the small openings in the wall. "You're certainly friendly then some of the people around here."

"Well thanks Sugar. I know the others don't trust ya'll much, but if Sally-girl trusts you, that's good enough fer me." Bunnie responded happily in her deep southern accent. "So, what brings ya'll way out here?" Bunnie asked as she fetched a towel off the perimeter wall and dabbed it on her still sweaty forehead.

"Well, Tails was showing me around till that walrus showed up and took him off to see the Princess." Slasher explained, his words becoming a little bitter as he mentioned Rotor.

"Ya'll mean Rotor, Hon?" Bunnie asked leaning against the perimeter wall using both hands for support.

"That's the one; he told me to leave your headquarters and so I ended up out here. Then I heard you doing that… umm…" Slasher stuttered as he sought to think of a way to explain his thoughts.

Before he could however Bunnie finished his sentence for him. "And then ya'll saw me practicin' mah sparrin'?"

"Um, yea." Slasher blushed a little from embarrassment. "Sorry if I was prying."

"No harm done, Sugar, its kinda nice have'n an audience actually." Bunnie smiled.

"Um, if you don't mind me asking, wouldn't you learn more in sparring by fighting a real opponent rather then fighting a dummy?" Slasher asked pointing to the badly battered dummy on the opposite side of the fighting ring.

"(Sigh) It would, but nobody really wants ta practice with lil' ole me." Bunnie explained sadly. "Ah plum well don't know mah own strength sometimes."

Slasher considered what Bunnie said for a moment. "Well, I'm always up for a little practice." He stated as a sly grin crept across his face.

Bunnie was caught by surprise by the offer and considered it carefully. "Ah don't know Sugar, ya'll sure yur alright with those there injuries?" Bunnie asked pointing her real finger at the bandages covering Slasher's chest beneath his utility sash.

"I can manage, I've been through worse." Slasher stated as he shrugged his shoulders confidently while he rubbed one of the wrappings on his arm.

"Welllll… alright, why not, it's been sometime since Ah've actually sparred with someone; but what about those claws of yours?" Bunnie looked with some degree of anxiety at the menacing battle claws that were still sheathed within the silver armbands.

"What about them?" Slasher asked a little surprised by Bunnie's hesitation

"Ya'll aren't plan'n on use'n 'em in a practice are ya?" Bunnie asked her apprehension growing.

"Well, yes actually." Slasher replied, his tone suggesting that should be obvious to her. "I don't hold back in a sparring match, and I certainly don't want you to hold back. It hinders the learning if you always fight at half strength and never push yourself to your limits."

What Slasher said made sense, to a degree, but she still felt uneasy about using all of her abilities against Slasher for fear he'd end up just like all the other sparring partners she'd gone up against. "Alright then Sugar, I'll try to not hurt ya too much." Bunnie nodded in agreement hesitantly. She spread her legs a little into a fighting stance and raised her arms into kind of boxing position.

Slasher spread his legs wide, raised his hands and lowered himself into a much more elegant looking Judo stance. The combatants sized each other up for a moment waiting for the right moment to attack. Slasher struck first as he burst out of his position and lunged for the waiting rabbit.

Slasher threw a left hook at Bunnie, hoping to catch her on her weaker side, but surprisingly Bunnie blocked the attack and grabbed hold of his wrist, spun on her heels and pulled him over her hip in a take down move. The force of the move sent Slasher flying across the ring and skidding indignantly on his belly into the perimeter wall. _"Whoah, she may not be as strong on he right, but she certainly knows how to use my own force to her advantage."_ Slasher thought as he rubbed a sore spot on his head. He picked himself off the ground and saw Bunnie patiently waiting for him in her fighting stance.

_"Looks like this will be a good fight after all."_ He thought to himself as he stared at his opponent and deciding on his next move. He never got to think of one before Bunnie lunged forward with her own attack. As Slasher would expect she threw a straight punch with her left arm; the one cast in metal. Slasher ducked as he threw his right hand upwards, deflecting the metal fist upwards and away from the downwards going dragon. Slasher had ducked for more reasons then to just avoid the punch, as his legs bent to their greatest extent, he spun on his 'heels' and used the underside of his large tail like a club and knocked the feet out from under Bunnie.

Bunnie crashed hard to the dirt floor of the battle ring. Her metal limbs making a loud clanking noise combined with a loud thud of her organic parts that connected with the ground. The sudden fall knocked the air out of her, but she found the resolve to get up.

Instead of getting back into a fighting stance like Slasher expected Bunnie leapt straight from the ground and tackled Slasher right in the mid-section. The two fighters crashed to the ground, with Bunnie on top. Slasher struggled to get free as Bunnie straddled his body and pinned his arms above his head with both hands. "Give up Sugar?" Bunnie asked in a sassy and provacative voice.

"I have not yet begun to fight." He smirked as he struggled to move the arm that was pinned by Bunnie's robotic limb. Her grip was far too strong however, but he was finding it no easier trying to prompt his other arm to move. With no way to get loose using his arms, and his legs were hardly useful to get up at the moment; there was only one other thing he could use, his tail. Slasher's tail had been wagging beneath Bunnie in kin to his struggling the whole time, but now Slasher's tail became rigid and slapped into the ground with enough force to actually lift Slasher's body, and Bunnie's along with it, off the ground and force Bunnie to let go and roll away while Slasher finished his back roll and quickly rose to his feet.

Bunnie had been surprised by the move, and was just getting out of her own roll when she spotted Slasher leap into the air and throw a spinning roundhouse kick at her head. Luckily, the attack was coming on her left side, had it been to her other side she might not have been able to react fat enough or have enough strength to block the powerful attack. But her robotic arm stopped the kick with little effort, though Slasher flinched with pain from kicking the metal armor.

Bunnie never gave Slasher a chance to work the limp from his sore foot as she unleashed her own roundhouse kick with her left leg. Slasher leaped straight into the air, spreading his legs out into the splits letting the fast kick pass underneath harmlessly. Using her spinning momentum Bunnie followed through with another spinning kick, striking with her heel, as soon as her first kick touched the ground.

This time Slasher had no time to leap into the air again, so he used his already present downward momentum and tried to drop to the ground and let the kick pass overhead. But Bunnie's fast robotic limbs caught Slasher in mid-air before he could completely flatten himself out. The force of the kick sent Slasher flying across the ring crashing into the perimeter wall with a loud thud.

"Oh mah stars! Slasher-Sugar, ya'll alright, Ah'm so darn sorry Sugar, Ah didn't realize how hard Ah hit." Bunnie clasped her hands over mouth as she raced up beside Slasher while he struggled to catch his breathe.

Slasher was struggling hard to regain his breath from the force of the powerful kick, but nothing major had been broken. "You certainly(Wheez) weren't kidding about hard you hit." Slasher grinned as he finally regained his breath and stood up, picking a blade of grass off his white bandages, now turned green in some places because of the grass stains.

"Ah tried ta warn ya…" Bunnie started to explain but was interrupted by Slasher.

"Don't worry about it; I want to fight you with all your strength. One can only become stronger if they are pushed to their limits, besides, (ACK) I'm not hurt so much that I can't stand some more." Slasher smiled in a sincere way, as he rubbed his back; finding a particularly sore spot mid-sentence.

Bunnie was surprised by this and was still unsure if Slasher really knew what he was getting himself into. After all, she had her strength and fighting skills, but she also had other things in her arsenal that would probably not be fair, unless… "Slasher-Sugar, I tell ya what hon. Ah'll stop hold'n back and ya'll can use yer blades if ya feel like it." She suggested.

"Well, to be honest I had planned to, but since you seemed to be so nervous of the idea I thought I'd give you a chance to fight me without my blades." Slasher admitted. "I wanted to wait for you to feel comfortable with the idea of using my blades before you fought me with them. And I assure you, I have excellent control with my blades, I promise I won't cut you." Slasher nodded and whipped his arms out to his sides and took up a fighting stance keeping his blades low and keeping on his toes.

"Ah appreciate the sentiment Sugar, but Ah can take care a' mah lil' ole self." She replied with a charismatic smile. She lowered herself into another fighting position.

Slasher lunged forward at the tan-coloured rabbit slashing upwards with his right arms'battle claws. Bunnie performed a backwards handspring dodging the first and second slash, landing gracefully on her feet; unharmed. Slasher didn't stop though; he kept moving with his momentum and lashed out with his right arm to the side of the female rabbit. Bunnie, knowing that to counter a foe with a sword or other such weapon you must block what holds the weapon, not the weapon itself, moved in closer to her attacker instead of backing away and blocked Slasher's attack at the arm. Now being so close, and having Slasher in a very vulnerable opening she used her real arm and jabbed out at Slasher's jaw in an uppercut.

The punch connected with a loud crack, sending the dragon falling onto his back in a slight daze. After rubbing the spot where the punch had connected Slasher lifted his legs off the ground and leapt to his feet like a fighter in a Kung-Fu movie. Slasher jabbed with his left towards Bunnie's head, the blades glistening with the daylight. Bunnie blocked with her real arm much the same as before, but this time before Bunnie could counter, Slasher jabbed his other battle claw down to her stomach. Bunnie blocked this with a sweeping outside block, creating a loud clank as the metal connected. With this new rotational momentum Slasher spun in place and left his allowed his arm swing with the spin. The speed of the arm was too fast for Bunnie to anticipate or block and so Bunnie instinctively closed her eyes shut and flinched as the blades drew nearer at a startling rate. Nothing. Bunnie opened one eye, then the other in awe as she saw the twin blades of Slasher's battle claws mere centimeters away from her scrunched up face. In her amazement she followed the arm back to its owner, who bore a victorious smile on his large muzzle.

"I told you I have good control with these." He smugly stated as he withdrew his blades from their precarious position beside Bunnie's face.

"(Phew) Sugar, ya'll are somethin' else with those blades." Bunnie complemented, breathing a sigh a relief as she backed away. She quickly returned to her fighting stance ready to continue the match. Slasher did likewise and the pair stared each other down again for a moment.

Bunnie attacked first this time, leaping into the air with a flying front kick. Slasher easily dodged the attack, but was surprised when Bunnie followed up with a round house and spinning back-kick combo. The moves and subsequent blocks forced him back up into the wall of the sparring circle. He thudded into the wall, the spikes on his tail scraping along the surface of the wall as it wagging anxiously. Bunnie threw a jab at Slasher; striving to keep his back against the wall.

Slasher grabbed her furry wrist with both hands, but threw Bunnie's arm away and leapt to the side as Bunnie's mechanical arm launched a devastating uppercut, barley missing Slasher, connecting with the perimeter wall. The force of the punch ripped a hole in the top of the wall sending a hail of splinters outside the ring. Slasher had no time to admire the strength of that attack since he found himself in the middle of an increasingly intense battle with a very worthy opponent.

Recovering from his dive to the right Slasher dug the claws on his feet into the ground using his left hand to stabilize himself, slowing his momentum and immediately launched himself forward; much as he had during his fight with Sonic earlier. All this took place in the span of a few seconds, but to the fighters, time seemed to have slowed for them.

Bunnie spotted the attack out of the corner of her eye as she retracted her punch from the wall and having just microseconds to react before the dragon's strike would connect. As her mechanical arm moved to block the attack, a small cube-shaped object extended from the top of Bunnie's arm and activated creating a shimmering pink, circular force-field from her arm.

Slasher's blades hit the force-field, but the energy shield proved too strong and stopped the force of the blow. Slasher's jaw opened wide in amazement at the strength of the nearly transparent shield. His stupor was momentary, an urge to beat this barrier pounded though Slasher's mind as adrenaline flooded his body and mind.

Rational thought was also beginning to be lost with Bunnie as well as her opponent pushed her body to pump more adrenaline into her system then she had ever felt. The missions into Robotropolis were always hair-raising, but after so many incursions into that malodorous pit she had become accustomed to the fear she felt. This rush of adrenaline was of a pure competitive nature, not fear.

Slasher jabbed and jabbed again at the shield trying to break it. Even after numerous strikes the shield still held strong, and because of his efforts, Slasher was starting to run out steam. If nothing else he was becoming aware that he would have to fight smarter to get past this strange magical barrier.

"_But why doesn't she have the shield on the arm that is not armored, why not on the one that doesn't have armor, it would make a lot more sense."_ Slasher wondered; this being yet another oddity about this warrior.

"You're going to have to show me that trick after we finish this fight, warrior rabbit." Slasher smiled confidently as he planned his next move, withdrawing his blades into the armbands that adorned his forearms.

"Ah'm just full 'a surprises Sugar." Bunnie laughed at Slasher's surprised reaction and readied herself. Bunnie jumped backwards, her shield switching off. She pointing her arm out at Slasher as her hand withdrew into her forearm leaving wide hole where the hand use to be and a tube pushed out of the hole about an inch. "This here trick is bound ta leave ya'll speechless." Bunnie smirked as she pressed a neatly hidden button on her arm, changing her pulse laser's setting to stun. With that she fired a blue bolt of energy out of her cannon.

Slasher leaped to the side, rolling away from the pulsing projectile as it narrowly missed. Slasher whipped his blades back out and lunged at the rabbit, sidestepping shot after shot as he ran as fast as his clawed feet could carry him.

He swung his right arm out at Bunnie, but growled in anger as Bunnie activated her energy shield again and blocked his attack with a confident smile. She kicked out at the reptile, catching him in the stomach and sending back across the rink, his feet skidding along the ground, his claws ripping the soft grass as they went. Despite the hit Slasher remained standing, and looked just as ready to fight as when they had begun. He retracted his blades and made a kind of half-hearted attempt to bring his hands up into a fighting position, his battle claw retracted, while he regained his breathe.

Bunnie on the other hand was beginning to feel tired; she had never fought an opponent that had lasted this long without having to visit the infirmary right after. The only other time she had fought this hard was against one of Robotnik's robots, but under those circumstances she was fighting for her life and she fought purely out of fear and survival instincts. It was kind of exhilarating to be fighting such a worthy foe, and under friendly circumstances no less. She was actually having 'fun', she realized with a grin curling on her face.

Bunnie, snapping out of her momentary day-dream, charged forward at the slightly dazed dragon striking out with her right hand, the real one, in a straight-forward punch; aiming for his head. Slasher, snapping out of his daze, reacted swiftly enough to catch Bunnie's hand in mid-extension. Bunnie was caught by surprise by this, and Slasher smiled confidently as he began to twist her wrist. Bunnie winced in pain from the sudden rough torque on her small, slender wrist, but thinking quickly; she converted her robotic arm to its pulse-cannon mode and pointed the muzzle of the cannon just below the bandages on his chest. She let a quick shot off at close range into Slasher's stomach.

Slasher let go of Bunnie's hand as his body folded over in pain from the stun round. Even though the shot was only a stun round the pain was immense because of the close proximity of the blast. He held a hand over the point of impact as he struggled to force himself to rise from his hands and knees. Drawing upon the years of training he forced himself to calm his breathing and focus his thoughts away from the pain he felt and refocused that energy into making his muscles to lift his body off the ground. Adrenaline raced though his body in a renewed surge.

Slasher was now determined to tag his opponent; he would not lose this match, even if it was just for fun. Slasher raced towards his opponent and threw a flurry of punches at her head and stomach, alternating targets to create an opening. Bunnie blocked with her forearms as best she could, but quickly found those armbands were deadening her real forearm's nerves with the force needed to block the attacks. Bunnie tried to retire that arm from the barrage of fists as she slid back from her attacker. Slasher never backed off though, and now he had the opening he needed.

He threw a left hook punch at Bunnies delicate face, but Bunnie brought her robotic arm across her body and blocked the attack with ease. Which was exactly what Slasher had wanted; in kin to Bunnie's block Slasher threw another punch into Bunnie's now unguarded rib cage.

The shot to the rib cage knocked the wind from Bunnie. It took only a moment for her to get her composure back and she returned to her fighting stance. "How's 'bout next tag wins Sugar?" Bunnie suggested behind the clenched fists that shielded her face.

"Sounds good to me." Slasher lunged at the rabbit and tried to kick her stomach with another roundhouse. Bunnie hollowed out her body as she leapt back to dodge the kick and quickly countered with a jab from her real arm. Slasher blocked the strike, but it took him more effort to block the follow-though punch from her robotic arm. Her metal fist stopped just inches from the nose of his large muzzle. As luck would have it, the arm Slasher had deftly attempted to use to block her attack missed the fist, but just so happened to catch in the bend of her elbow, stopping the attack dead.

Slasher used this lucky happenstance and grabbed hold of her metallic fist and used it as leverage to throw Bunnie to the ground. Bunnie skidded on the ground away from Slasher. Bunnie, lying on her back side, looked up and saw Slasher begin to break roll, closing the distance between them with one roll. Only when she saw his tail whip out from behind the rolling figure did Bunnie realize the magnitude of the attack. Unlike the tightly wrapped body that was rolling, the tail was being allowed to freely swing around him and gain centrifugal force from the roll. He was using his own tail like a flail, and with those large, sharp spines on the tip of his tail, it would likely have the same effect as an actual flail.

Out of reflex Bunnie raised her robotic arm and activated her energy shield to protect her body from the impending strike. The spikes on the end of Slasher's tail fell upon the energy shield at full force, unfortunately the onslaught of attacks Slasher had unleashed on Bunnie earlier in the fight had drained a great deal of the shields energy reserves, and there had not been enough time to full recharge them. The shield collapsed with a loud fizzle as the spikes crashed though the transparent barrier and imbedded themselves into Bunnie's metal forearm.

Bunnie felt no pain, but the shock of seeing those spikes break though her energy shield and yet, still have enough force to sink into her tough metal armor left her speechless. Slasher on the other hand, realizing what happened quickly got off his now sore back, his tail still imbedded in her arm now hanging limply between his legs. "Bunnie… are you alright!" he gasped seeing the shocked expression on her face. Seeing no reaction Slasher shook her shoulder with great concern.

Bunnie finally snapped out of her stupor and shook her head to clear hr mind. Realizing Slasher was still asking if she was alright she answered. "Ah'm fine Sugar." She reassured him looking into his eyes, but quickly returned her gaze to the imbedded spikes. "That's some wallop ya'll put on me." She said exasperatedly pointing at the spikes in her arm.

"I'm so sorry Bunnie, I…I just got into the fight so much… I shouldn't of…. I'll go get help and…" Slasher apologized, speaking at a panicky speed.

"There's no need Sugar. Ah'm not hurt." Bunnie interrupted. Slasher gave her a bewildered look and was about to say something to the extent of how that was possible with his spikes firmly planted in her arm, but he stopped himself as she daintily pulled the spikes from her cold metallic limb showing no signs of pain what-so-ever. As the intrusive pale blue spikes were removed a few severed wires began to spark. Bunnie felt the three holes with her real fingers and flexed her metal fist, receiving more sparks as a result. A small streak of oil began to trickle down her arm from one of the deep gashes to which Bunnie sighed sadly.

It was now Slasher's turn to be dumbfounded as he stared at the gaping holes in her arm. "You're… one of them?" he asked in disbelief. It suddenly made sense, the strength, the strange abilities; all were because she was a robot, like Coconuts and Crabmeat.

Bunnie returned a confused stare. "What?"

"You're one of those robot things… I… I thought you were just wearing battle armor." Slasher admitted backing away from the stricken rabbit.

Bunnie giggled at the innocence of this stranger. "Ah'm no 'bot Sugar, though Ah almost became one once."

Slasher relaxed his stance a little and stopped backing away in curiosity. "What do you mean?" He asked, tilting his head, but keeping his arms out, ready to unsheathe his battle claws at a moments notice.

Bunnie padded the grass beside her with her real hand, asking for Slasher to sit down, and reluctantly he strode closer sat down beside her, still a bit leery. "It happened years ago Sugar, Ah was tend'n mah garden, mind'n mah own business when two Swatbots grab me and toss me into a portable robotizer…"

"A what?" Slasher asked contorting his face in confusion.

"It's a machine that transforms flesh and blood into metal and gears, turns you into a robot." Bunnie explained, a shiver running down her spine. Slasher looked like he was having the same reaction as Bunnie glanced at the small dragon. "An' that's not the worst part…" Bunnie wrapped her arm around her knees as she lifted them under her chin. "Aft'a ya'll are turned into a 'bot ya'll lose yer free will, you become a mindless drone that only serves Robotnik." A look of horror came across the young Guardian's face as he looked into Bunnie's eyes for some sign she was joking, that such a thing wasn't possible. He found no such reassurance from Bunnie's glazed over eyes. "Ah was lucky, Sonic an' Rotor saved me b'fore Ah was completely transformed into a 'bot. Mah arm an' legs are robotic, but the rest of me is as alive as you are Sugar. Eve'a since Ah've been fight'n with the Freedom Fighters ta put an' end ta Robotnik once an' fer all."

"I'm sorry Bunnie… I had no idea." He started to apologize again but Bunnie held up her hand to stop him.

"It's alright Sugar, it actually kinda nice ta know ya'll wasn't put off by mah robot parts. They tend to be a bit of a social barrier with some folks." She laughed a bit from the thought. "I have ta admit though, aside from this; that was the best sparrin' match Ah've eve'a had."

"Me too, (Ow) makes me glad we're on the same side though." Slasher laughed rising from the cool grass as he rubbed one of the many sore spots on his body.

"Ah guess Ah best go an' find Rotor so's he can patch mah arm up." Bunnie sighed as she hefted the limp appendage with her good arm and stood up. That small leak of oil apparently was her hydraulic fluid, and she was losing pressure, making it harder for her to move the arm. "An' don't worry yer cute little ole head, Ah'll make sure Rotor doesn't get too mad." Bunnie smiled sweetly as she looked into Slasher's dark, red eyes.

* * *

End Ch 8

alright, wicked fight scene, time for more, hang tight really big ass fight coming soon!


	9. Ch 9 Evil Rising

(sigh) to many disclaimers for the disclaimers... lets get to the action already... o and remember to keep sending in those reviews.

**A Visitor From Afar**

**Ch 9 Evil Rising

* * *

**

Meanwhile……….

Sally, Antoine and Sonic sat at the table in the War Room waiting patiently for Rotor to return with Tails, and as if on cue Rotor and Tails entered the room. "Bout time Rote." Sonic grumbled as he leaned back in his chair.

"Sorry Sally, I couldn't find Bunnie, but I did find Tails." Rotor explained as he took a seat next to Antoine and Tails took a spot next to Sonic.

From her place at the head of the table Sally nodded. "That's okay Rotor, I can relate everything to her later." Sally turned her gaze from Rotor to Sonic. "So Sonic, did Uncle Chuck know anything."

Sonic shrugged his shoulders apprehensively. "He was just as surprised when I told him. He knew there was some kind of disturbance last night, but he never even saw this guy. And if he **is** working for 'Buttnik Uncle Chuck figures Robotnik is keeping the plan real close to that bloated vest a' his. He does know that Robotnik is analyzing some strange crystal in one of his labs and he knows where it is too. He also gave me a copy of some preliminary scans of the thing, I think." Sonic really wasn't an expert on such things so his uncertainty hardly surprised anyone.

"Here Rotor take a look at these." Sally said handing the papers Sonic had given her to the walrus. Rotor quickly scanned the readings, becoming engrossed in them.

"Sorry Sally, I'll have to take a closer look at these later in order to figure something out." Rotor scratched his head, baffled by the odd readings.

"So Uncle Chuck didn't know anything else?" Sally asked her disappointment apparent in her voice.

"He's said he'll look into it more closely, but he figures anything related ta Bolt-for-Butt's most recent plan will be heavily encrypted so he's not sure he can find much that will be useful." Sonic said just before his stomach started growling.

Sally grinned with the rest of her friends and said. "Fine, I still need to finish finally preparations for the mission tonight, so is there anything else we need to discuss?"

Antoine raised his hand a little hesitantly. "My liege, I am not so certain zis 'Slasher' person can be trusted, we should have him placed under ze custody in ze jailhouse."

"(Sigh) No guys, I'm certain that he's who he says he is. Besides, after hearing Dulcy relayed that story he told Tails and her earlier today I'm beginning to think he's not even from this planet. The fact that she believes him and what he has said about where he is from, despite how far fetched it sounds, is reason enough for us to give him the benefit of the doubt. And the fact that if he was out to kill us I'm certain he would have done so already. I'm certain we can trust him if we give him a chance." Sally said in a coaxing, persuasive way.

"As much as I hate to admit it, but I agree with Ant' on this one, we just can't trust him Sal." Sonic spoke up with a hint of disgust in his voice.

"Sonic, give him a chance, he might prove to be a valuable asset if we just be patient with him. If he** is** from another planet, then he's likely got nothing to do with Robotnik as it is. It's just a matter of figuring out how he got here and how to send him back." The others looked skeptical of the idea, but Sally hadn't steered them wrong yet, so none of them felt the need to ague any further; though the others didn't relent grumbling to themselves queitly. "Alright how's about we call this meeting to close and everyone get something to eat then." Sally finished with a smile that everyone quickly returned.

To that everyone nodded and filed out of the room in quick order. Tails was first out the door and he waited outside the door for Sonic to exit. As soon as the speedy blue one exited the door, Tails approached him with an unsure demeanor on his face. "Hey, Sonic, you want to go have a picnic out in the Great Forest?"

"Great idea lil' buddy!" Sonic patted Tails on the head getting a big smile on his face. "Where did ya wanna eat?"

"How about you go back to our hut and get some food and I'll meet you at the old lake." Tails suggested.

"What are you going to do?" Sonic asked becoming a little suspicious of Tails' lack of participation in the set up of the picnic.

"Um… I've, uh, got something I have to take care of… I'll meet you there." Tails stammered trying to avoid revealing his real reason.

"Well, alright, but don't take too long, or else there might not be any food left by the time ya get there." Sonic joked just before he raced off through the corridors of the limestone caves. Tails sighed, relieved that Sonic had not questioned him further.

He was about to leave to put part two of his plan into action when a suspicious Princess Sally walked up behind him with her arms crossed in a very authoritative way. "And just what are you planning young man?"

Tails stopped dead in his tracks and spun around upon hearing her voice. "Aunt' Sally, I… I was, just planning on going on a picnic… with Sonic and I was… going to bring Slasher…so they could to get to know each other." Tails said innocently, he knew he couldn't lie to his adopted 'aunt' so he didn't even bother trying. He still said it with great uncertainty, unsure how his 'Aunt' would react to a plan such as this.

Instead of being angry like he had expected Sally actually smiled warmly. "Hmm… that's a great idea, Sonic's is being so stubborn with Slasher, they both don't seem too fond of each other. Maybe those two hard-heads might actually get along and become friends. Just where are you going on your picnic?"

"The old lake." Tails responded quickly, dreading she may not approve the idea because the pond was beyond the safety of Knothole. Again he was to be surprised by his aunt.

"Well, as long as Sonic is with you I think you should be okay. Just to be safe though, blindfold Slasher when you leave Knothole and come back and make sure he doesn't know where the entrance is." Sally pondered but became more comfortable of the idea as she told Tails the conditions of the arrangement.

Tails' ears drooped down a little. "(Moan) But, 'Aunt' Sally I trust him, isn't that enough?" Tails replied sadly.

"I know sweetie, but I can't risk Knothole's safety on just that. I trust him too, but what if he's captured and forced to reveal the entrance's location?" Sally coaxed, softly stroking the small tuff of hair that clung to Tails' forehead soothingly.

"Gee, I never thought of that…" Tails pondered as his ears perked up in surprise realizing the omission of that detail in his plan. "Alright Sally, I'll do that for you." He finished by giving the squirrel-chipmunk hybrid a hug before running off, leaving Sally smiling as she watched the happy young kit gleefully run down the hallway.

* * *

A moment later………

Tails made good time through the headquarters winding tunnels and before long was standing in front of the training facility. He rounded the corner to see Slasher and Bunnie chatting on the outside of the perimeter wall of the sparring circle. The way Bunnie was propping her arm against the wall caught Tails' as rather strange; so he went over to them intending to find out what happened.

"Hey Bunnie, what's wrong with your arm?" he shouted out as he ran up to her. As he got closer the deep holes in her metallic arm became visible and his concern suddenly spiked. "Whoa, 'Aunt' Bunnie, what happened?" he asked as he took the limp, heavy limb into his hands and inspected the damage more closely.

"Now don't worry yer little ole' self 'bout me, Sugar-Tails. Me an' Slasher got a little carried away practisin' our sparrin'." Bunnie reassured Tails by placing her real hand on his shoulder. "It's nothin' ta fret over. I best get a' goin' now or else mah poor little arm her might plumb well freeze up on me. Later ya'll" Bunnie bid farewell as she waved her hand, letting the metal arm dangle to her side.

"Man Slasher, you did that to Bunnie's arm? How'd that happen?" Tails asked still curious about what had happened.

"Like Bunnie said, I got a little carried away, but have to say, she's one heck of a fighter." Slasher stated with an admiring smile as he watched Bunnie strut away.

"Ya, she's pretty tough, but she's really nice deep down. I'm surprised you managed to damage her arm the way you did." Tails admitted as he joined Slasher in his admiring stare as his 'Aunt' rounded the corner to the training center and disappeared from view. Tails suddenly remembered the reason he was there and turned to face the Guardian Dragon. "Say Slasher, are you getting hungry?"

"Yes actually, I think I could go for something to eat." Slasher admitted, soothing his rumbling tummy by rubbing it gently.

"Great, I know just the place c'mon." Tails nearly cried out with glee. He calmed himself down a bit as he remembered what Sally had asked of him. "Um, Slasher, there's just one thing, Sally wants me to blindfold you so you don't find out where the entrance to Knothole is."

Slasher gave the kit a look of apprehension, but then nodded as he understood what Tails said. "It's alright Tails; I don't blame any of you for not trusting me. One thing though, we're leaving the village?" he asked giving a look of confusion at the idea of leaving the village to go have some lunch.

"Yea, we're going to eat out in the Great Forest, I thought you might like to see it, it's really beautiful." Tails explained worried Slasher might not like the idea.

"Very well young one, lead on." Slasher waved his hands politely with a little bow. Tails took the lead and proceeded back towards the cliff face. They entered the headquarters and made good time through the compound and made their way to the secret entrance.

* * *

Meanwhile in Robotropolis…..

Doctor Robotnik stood before a large bank of blinking computer monitors, brooding over the wealth of information that scrolled across their screens. Half the monitors displayed the preliminary data on the scans of the strange crystal that Robotnik had seized from the creature, none of it made any sense, the crystals molecular structure was too orderly, every molecule lined up perfectly, too perfect to have been made naturally. And that wasn't the strangest part; the crystal didn't appear to be composed of any atomic elements the bloated human had ever seen before. Whatever this was it was something completely foreign to this world, perhaps more rare then even the vaunted Chaos Emeralds.

Robotnik diverted his attention to the other monitors that displayed readings from the failed experiment with the Void. One of the readings showed the telemetry that the Swatbot had been transmitting just before the timer had reached zero. Once the timer reached zero the signal stopped, by what Robotnik could gather, the return beacon had activated and opened a portal out of the void, but was closed almost as instantly shut. _"Hmm… perhaps the particle cannon's blast hit the Swatbot within the zone just as the return device activated and destroyed it. It if that was the case such a portal opening and closing so quickly might have created a tremendous suction force into the zone."_ The evil doctor thought quietly to himself as he ran his large fingers over his equally large chin. "_That would mean a hole was opened in the zone momentarily, the creature could have been sucked into the zone and somehow drifted into the Void Gateway."_

Robotnik's thoughts were suddenly interrupted as Snively appeared on one of the monitors before Robotnik and spoke to him in his whimpering, nervous voice. "Sir, upgrades to the 'Badnik's are complete, sir." Snively reported in his nasal, English accent.

"Excellent, display them now Snively." Robotnik grinned with malice satisfaction. Immediately another of the monitors changed. The room displayed was dark, an eerie set of silhouettes stood in front of the area illuminated by the single light on in the room. The line up of ranged in height shape from tall and slender bipeds to ones that did not even touch the ground. The menacing figures all possessed eerie glowing eyes that were a blood red colour, making them appear all the more imposing.

"Now, my mechanical minion's, go, and seek out that creature and bring him back here… ALIVE…" Robotnik hissed, the thought of having to bring that creature back alive disgusted him, but if he wanted to uncover the power the crystal possessed he would need to… **persuade**, the creature into revealing the information he needed. "You're upgrades will make you more then a match for that creature, go now, and don't come back till you retrieve the creature." The robots in perfect unison saluted the dictator and the monitor displaying them deactivated.

"Sir, have you discovered how that creature got here yet, sir?" Snively inquired from his monitor.

"I believe so yes, Snively." Robotnik sputtered, annoyed by the question Snively asked, especially since he still didn't fully know himself. "Somehow a combination of the void and it strange properties, the Swatbot's self-return portal generator and the particle cannon created some sort of gateway that the creature got sucked into. It doesn't explain everything, but it does explain a few things at least."

"Sir, might I ask what a Particle Cannon was doing in the Void Chamber?" Snively asked leaning closer to his monitor with interest.

"Idiot, don't you remember what kind of people we've banished there?" Robotnik shouted angrily at his foolish nephew. "Ixis Naugus, Kodos, King Acorn! I had that Particle cannon placed there as a fail safe in case any of them ever tried to escape the zone through the Gateway. Unfortunately those bumbling imbeciles Coconuts and Crabmeat activated the cannon and activated a fail safe protocol built into the system."

"Failsafe, what kind of fail safe protocol?" Snively asked, he had never been given much security clearance with anything related to the Void, especially after Robotnik had been briefly sent there himself.

"If the cannon should go off by accident the blast would destroy the Gateway's door, it would be impossible to seal; and the Void would suck everything into it. So I designed a fail safe that would open the door in case the cannon was activated without the door being open first to prevent that from happening. However, because of that the particle cannon's blast was able to enter the void and destroy the Swatbot and my prototype guidance system. The self-return device activated, but was immediately destroyed and closed the portal it had briefly opened. Something like that would have turned the portals opening into a massive vacuum and probably sucked the creature into. The creature then must have been blown though the Gateway as the Swatbot exploded." Robotnik's explanation seemed to satisfy Snively's curiosity, but it looked like something else still bothered him.

"That does make some sense, sir, after all the energy disturbance caused by the power of the particle cannon would have sent the void through a massive shock wave throughout the zone, the echoing wave could have carried the creature right to the gateway in that blast of energy that surged out of the void." Snively said as he thought aloud his theory.

"Exactly, but the how of the creature's arrival is not what bothers me most now, it is figuring out how to make use of the powers that crystal possesses. Have you learned anything else yet?" Robotnik sighed at the mention of the crystal. It annoyed him how this crystal held its secrets so well. "Have the secondary scans finished?"

"Not yet, sir, we've been running on our inferior back-up generators ever since the Particle Cannon fired; it drained and fried the generators. I've only been able to achieve 48 power from the back-ups. Shall I reroute power from other power grids to output to speed the process, sir." Snively reported as he turned in front of the monitor to allow Robotnik a view of the crystal as it was being scanned.

"Do it, I want to learn just what kind of power that crystal might possess. And I'm a **very** impatient person Snively." Robotnik leaned towards the monitor closer to the monitor, causing Snively to gulp in anxiety from intimidation.

"Y-Y-yes sir, right away, sir." Snively gulped as his monitor winked off.

* * *

Meanwhile….

Deep within the dark bowels of Robotropolis, beneath a seemingly large pile of robotic junk, a secret bunker lay below the hidden folds of the camouflage. Deep inside the bunker Robotnik's voice could be heard, conversing with Snively. But not because they were in the room, it was because a third party was secretly listening in to their conversation. The room had a low roof and was cluttered with all manner of computer and surveillance gear. A light blue robotic hedgehog sat before a large bank of computer gear as he watched a live transmission between Robotnik in his command room and Snively in one of the main labs within their fortress. This robot was none other then Sir Charles the Hedgehog, Sonic's uncle. It had been some time since he had regained his free will and set up this spy station, but as it had on so many other occasions, it was paying off, big time.

He listened intently to their conversation, absorbing all they said into his robotic memory system. From what he gathered, it sounded like they were talking about an experiment that had gone wrong. It had taken Chuck quite some time to systematically scan Robotnik's files and avoid electronic detection, slowly piecing together what happened. The idea that Robotnik was experimenting with the Void sent a shiver down his metallic body. It showed Robotnik was willing to spare no expense to win this war, even if it meant toying with something as dangerous as the Void; making Chuck's job that much more important. While precisely what Robotnik was planning still a befuddled him, he did know something more about this strange creature now; which was something least.

Robotnik bellowed something to Snively about analyzing some crystal, likely the one Chuck had dug up those scans on, and told him that he wanted to learn what power the crystal possessed as soon as possible. "So that's their game is it? No doubt he intends to use it in a weapon of some sort. I'm sure the Princess will want to know about this." Uncle Chuck mumbled to himself as he disconnected his pirate signal from his communication hub. He ran a quick system check to verify that no security systems had locked onto his signal and retired from the spy gear and went over to his power generator to recharge his battery.

* * *

Back in Robotnik's command room

Robotnik raised a gloved hand to his chin as he thought for a moment. "Computer, display read out of the creature." The computer beeped in response and displayed a three dimensional image of Slasher in the form that he had originally arrived in. Robotnik had taken the liberty of performing a scan of the creature while he had been unconscious on the torture rack. The image rotated slowly, giving Robotnik a good look at the structural make up of the creature. In the corners of the monitor 3-D images of his sword and shield rotated giving detailed readings of dimensions and proportions. Seeing the image of the creature Robotnik remembered how the fierce and skillfully it had fought, perhaps….

A cruel grin crept underneath Robotnik's thick mustache as a brilliant idea struck him. Robotnik began typing commands into his computer, sending orders and commands to everything he would need to accomplish his task, speaking in a deep voice that accompanied his evil thoughts. "Oh this will be perfect, my greatest creation ever, the perfect assassin; the Freedom Fighters, will never know… what-hit-them." (Ha ahahah….!)

(! BUM BUM Bummm….. !) (! more ominous music. !)

* * *

End Ch 9

I wonder if that joke is getting old yet? Oh well, what is Robotnik plotting? What's going to happen next? Will Bunnie get her arm working again? Is the Author going to shut up yet? Will he stop asking plot provoking questions? Will he quit with these stupid jokes and start writing the next chapter already? To find out stay tuned till next time; Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel.

Okay, so the lame jokes are going to keep coming but that's the only question I'm going to answer.


	10. Ch 10 Ambush

thx to Ri2 for being the only person to send in more then one review, glad you like the back story. there's obviously more to Slasher's story, but I don't have the time to write that much info; that's another story entirely that i'd be better off posting it on that i know there's more of you people reading this, that's right I can see you sitting there at your computer. if you like or dislike my story PLEASE send a review (no flames of course), it just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside to know people are reading my stuff and liking it. or alternatively reading it and taking time to give me a few helpful corrections and pointers.

sorry about taking so long to update, it took me quite some time to go back and redo the original chapters, bearing in mind the originals just got chopped up, this is the first NEW chapter added. moving on, I shall now shut up and let you read the story instead of my incessant ramblings.

* * *

**A Visitor From Afar**

**Ch. 10 Ambush

* * *

**

Somewhere deep within the Great Forest…

The chirping of the local birds droned on blissfully as bright sunshine streamed through the branches of the towering tree tops. Small animals roamed about on the forest floor peacefully nibbling away on the tender leaves and undergrowth to the music of the song birds above. The stump of a once proud maple tree stood within a small clearing of its fellow species. The center of the stump began to lift away as a golden-orange fox cautiously pushed away the trap door on well hidden hinges. The fox cautiously scanned for any signs of hostiles from his relatively hidden position.

Seeing that the coast clear, Tails smiled and looked back over his shoulder and carefully lead a blindfolded Slasher from the entrance and lead him onto the forest floor; advising him to watch his step as he did so. Tails left Slasher's side for a moment and closed the trap door over the hollow stump, securing the secret entrance. He rushed back to Slasher and let Slasher grab hold of Tails' shoulder so he could lead him deeper into the forest.

"Okay, you can take the blindfold off now." Tails announced once they were a safe distance from the stump entrance. Slasher eagerly reached behind his head and untied the blindfold that had annoyed the dragon ever since he had placed in on inside the secret tunnel that had led to the exit.

Blinking a few times to allow his eyes to adjust to the bright light that now filled his retina's, Slasher let out a gasp of awe at the sight he beheld. The forest was beautiful, trees standing twenty meters high at least, all the way up flowers, lichens, and creepers adorned the sides of the massive trees. Slasher figured it would take ten creatures his own size holding hands to go around the base of many of these old growth trees. The wildlife had stopped briefly to observe what had entered the wilderness, but resumed their songs and cries once they saw that the newcomer were no threat. The site was awe inspiring, even for a person like Slasher who had walked through many forests where he lived, but none were nearly as magnificent as this one.

"I can see why you call this place the 'Great' Forest." Slasher mused to his smaller comrade looking high into the towering trees.

"Yea, it's beautiful alright, too bad Robotnik will just about anything to destroy places like this." Tails remorsefully lowered his head. "C'mon, I'll show you where we're gonna eat." Tails perked up a bit, but his walk still showed his heart weighed heavy.

Slasher could see how this was affecting Tails so he decided to change the subject as they proceeded through the depths of the forest. "Tails, you said you're friends with that Sonic guy right?" Tails nodded silently, not sure what Slasher was getting at. "What can you tell me about him?"

Tails' demeanour instantly brightened up. "Sonic, he's the biggest hero in the whole world; and more importantly, he's been my best bud since I was a kid, he's the coolest guy ever." He answered cheerfully, recalling on his young, idolizing memories of his best friend. "One time he…" Tails voice trailed off as the pair meandered deeper into the great forest, oblivious of what headed their way.

* * *

Elsewhere in the forest…..

In this part of the forest, the mood of the forest was distinctly different from the one that Tails and Slasher enjoyed. The forest was eerily silent; all of the singing birds were either long gone or quietly huddling within their nests, praying not to be seen by what walked upon the forest floor. The forest animals that had been aimlessly wandering about in search of food fled in the wake of these menacing intruders. And just what were these creatures that drove such fear into the hearts of these primitive animals to freeze their voices in their throats and cause them to run for fear of them.

Bushes begin to rustle on the outskirts of a forest clearing… something approached. The rustling grew stronger and stronger as the foot steps and noises of machines drew nearer. Suddenly the bushes are trampled under the weight of a skinny robotic chicken as it sauntered out of the bushes, disregarding the flowers it had trampled in doing so. Followed closed behind was a green tracked robot sporting drill bits on the ends of its arms and on its nose. This robot crushed even more flowers following its comrade through the bush.

Grounder stopped in the middle of the clearing next to Scratch and looked around the forest, scanning for their target, but saw nothing. This has been the way of things for the last two hours of their search. The disgruntled robot looked to his counter part with what passed for annoyed glare from his robotic face. "Scratch, we've been looking for hours, and we still haven't found anything. Lets head back to Robotropolis, all these plants are getting stuck in my treads." Grounder whined as he pointed one of his arms to the mass of plants and mud adhered to his caterpillar tracks.

"Ah, quite yer whining ya baby, you heard Robotnik: don't come back until we get that creature." The bossy chicken barked back in his high pitched, scratchy voice.

"Scratch,-we-have-found-nothing-in-grid-ten." Announced Orbinaut in his robotic, monotone voice as the red sphere-shaped robot entered the clearing, its unique orbiting spiked balls cutting through the air around the bot. Following closely behind Obinaut, Buzz-Bomber fluttered in, its high-speed wings creating the same kind of buzzing a real hornet makes.

"Ditto in grid four, chicken boy." Coconuts added as he and Crabmeat entered the clearing from yet another direction.

Scratch rubbed the underside of his beak with his robotic wing absent-mindedly when all of a sudden the ground beneath him suddenly erupted upwards. Scratch jumped back in surprise just in time to avoid getting hit by Catekiller's re-surfacing face. "Watch where yer going ya stupid worm!" Scratch shouted in surprise and anger at the careless robot.

Catekiller disregarded the insult and went straight to reporting its findings. "Nothing in grid nine boss." He reported his more numerous golden-coloured spikes quivering with great disgust with having to refer to the chicken as its superior.

Scratch was just about to order the other 'Badniks to spread out and keep searching, but as his robotic eye scanned his forest surroundings he thought he saw something with his red-hinted thermal lens through the thick foliage of the forest. He could see the bushes and trees of varying shades from blue green, depending on if the surface was in the sun's glare, but something, something moving very fast had caught his attention. Whatever he might have seen was emanating much more heat then the trees and bushes; but whatever he had seen was gone now. But as he scanned farther to the left he noticed against the backdrop of the very cool blue that Scratch assumed was the nearby lake, he could make out… two heat signatures, both distinctively redder then their surroundings. The images were too distorted by the noon-day heat to pick out their exact shape, but there were defiantly two concentrated sources of heat, and the rough shape they formed was that of two living things. "Hey, over there… by the lake!" Scratch exclaimed excitedly pointing in the direction he was looking. The other robots did likewise and became excited as well. "Split up and surround 'em." Scratch ordered, his spirits rising considerably… if he truly had a spirit that is. With that the pairs of robots spread out and headed in the direction of the heat signatures.

* * *

Meanwhile back in Knothole….

Bunnie casually walked though the village, still propping her limp robotic arm with her real one as she went. She took special care to avoid walking though the more populated sections of the village in order to avoid having to answer any unwanted questions.

She had nearly made it across the village without drawing any attention to herself but all that came to a hearty crash as Antoine rounded a hut just ahead of her. Antoine spotted her immediately and hurried over to her without even noticing how Bunnie held her limp arm.

"Ah, mademoiselle Bunnie, how I missed you at ze meeting." Antoine greeted, his gaze never leaving Bunnie's beautiful violet eyes. Seeing Bunnie raise her eyebrow inquisitively, Antoine stopped to ponder just what he had actually said, realizing the suggestive nature of his comment Antoine blushed, and tried to stammer out an apology. "P-pardon-eh-moi, my Engleesh iz not zo good. But, I am wondering as to where you are off to?"

Bunnie was anxious to get away before Antoine discovered her arm, but wanted to do so discretely, she was enjoying the attention a great deal; plus she had also picked up on Antoine's slip-of-the-tongue. She knew that sometimes Antoine blurted out what was **actually **on his mind by mistake. It was something she had gotten very good at picking out with all the time she'd spent trying to decipher his bad accent all the time. "Oh nothin' much Sugar-'Twan; Ah was just practisin' at the spar'n ring."

"Oh I zee…" Antoine let his gaze fall from Bunnie's eyes and noticed something strange about her arm, particularly the way her hand dangled limply at the wrist. "Uh, Bunnie, iz something wrong; you're arm looks like ze wimp noodle."

"That's 'Limp' noodle 'Twan, and Ah'm fine." Bunnie corrected, turning to the side so Antoine would see the real problem. "Ah, uh, must'a knocked somethin' loose in mah arm when Ah was practisin', s'all." Antoine nodded, believingly, he had seen her break numerous practice dummies to pieces during the Freedom Fighters many training sessions, and something like this happening was fairly common, so it struck Antoine as nothing unusual.

"Zo, you are going to see Rotor zen, yes?" Antoine asked in his cheery accent.

"Yes, Antoine." Bunnie sighed. _"Antoine always did have a knack fer stat'n the obvious."_ She thought to herself.

"Zhen allow me to be escorting you there Madame." Antoine offered with a gentlemanly bow.

"Thanks Antoine but Ah'll…" Bunnie started to protest but as Antoine his head from his little bow he noticed a streak of oil streaking down her arm from under where her real hand held her arm.

"What iz zat?" Antoine inquired as he pulled Bunnie's hand away before Bunnie could react. As he pulled her oil soaked hand away he could see the jagged edges of the three holes in her metallic arm. "ZUT ALORS! How did Zhis happen!" Antoine exclaimed taking a closer look at the damage.

"AH'm fine Sugar-Twan!" Bunnie pulled her arm out of Antoine's grip angrily.

"You are far from fine mademoiselle Bunnie, now tell me, who did zhis horreeble theeng to you?" Antoine insisted with a sternness Bunnie had never seen before.

"Look Antoine, me an' Slasher were spar'n and things got a lil' outta hand. It's noth'n, really." Bunnie persisted to shrug off Antoine's concern, but this did nothing to calm him down.

"You were sparring weeth Slashaire'… he was ze one zat did zhis to you!" Antoine exclaimed, putting two and two together. "Zat fiend! I shall make heem pay for zhis." Antoine turned to dash off and find Slasher but Bunnie grabbed his shoulder before he could do so.

"Now look'y her 'Twan, it was an accident. Ah don't want you start'n something cause a lil' ole' me; got it?" Bunnie said forcefully, never letting her hands grip loosen on Antoine's shoulder.

"But I…" Antoine began to protest but seeing the pleading, yet forceful look in her eyes, he let his anger fade away, for her sake. "Oui, I shall not be picking ze fight zhen."

"Good, now how's 'bout we head over ta Rotor's place together Sugar?" Bunnie offered playfully batting her eyelashes.

"But I thought you were not to be wanting me to escort you to Rotor's?" Antoine asked surprised by Bunnie's sudden change of heart.

"Well, Ah couldn't say no to such a kind offer from such a nice gentleman." Bunnie said wrapping her real arm though Antoine's arm. Antoine blushed a deep red that was clearly visible, even under his tan-coloured fur. Antoine gulped nervously, but regained himself quickly, and smiled as the two walked off side by side, arm in arm.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the old lake….

Sonic stood back to proudly admire his handy work; the picnic site was excellent; they had an excellent view of the lake. The blanket he had thrown down on the ground was held down firmly by the large basket of food that Sonic had brought with him; mostly chilli dogs he had cooked up earlier and wrapped in tin-foil to keep warm.

The smell that slowly escaped though the tin-foil made Sonic's mouth drool in anticipation, taunting him to not wait for his best buddy to show up. The wait was really starting to annoy Sonic as he paced back and forth, his resolve slowly being eaten away by the delicious smell wafting from the picnic basket.

Just when Sonic was about to give in to his craving and leap at the chilidogs and devour them without even bothering to remove the foil; Tails emerged from behind a stand of bushes. Sonic stopped dead in his tracks, almost about to leap at the basket in fact, and quickly returned to a more innocent looking stance in hopes Tails didn't see him. "Oh… um, hi Tails." He muttered weakly trying to cover his embarrassment.

Tails had seen Sonic prepare to dive for the basket, but he decided not to bug him about it, though a small giggle escape as he entered the clearing. He was already a little anxious about how Sonic would react to his guest as it is; so no sense in getting him riled up early. "Hey, Sonic!" Tails greeted cheerfully. "Umm… hope you don't mind I brought someone else with me?"

"No problemo big guy, who'd you…" Sonic stopped his sentence short as the answer to his question rounded the bush behind Tails. A wave of anger filled his veins as Slasher entered the clearing, a look of uncertainly on the dragons face. "What's he doing here?" Sonic snapped pointing a finger menacingly at the approaching dragon.

"It's cool Sonic; I invited him, I, uh, was hoping you two might get to know each other better." Tails shyly admitted, his ears drooping at Sonic's negative reaction.

"I know about as much as I wanna know already. He's a cold-blooded murderer, and I don't wanna have anything ta do with him." Sonic said, disgust in his voice; speaking to Tails like Slasher wasn't present. Slasher, now beside Tails, scowled angrily, eyes narrowing from the hedgehog's unkind remarks.

"For some one who has such a high reputation of being a great hero and friend, you certainly don't act like one." Slasher replied coldly, his face remaining in an angry scowl.

"Hey, I don't need any moral advice from someone who **kills** his own species!" Sonic shouted thinking back to the story Dulcy had relayed to him..

"You think I enjoy killing other living creatures! I do what must be done! I can't afford to hesitate because of my conscience. If I do I'm as good as dead, and then my world is doomed!" Slasher clenched his fists in anger, his voice rising.

"That just sounds like an excuse to me." Sonic spoke with more control in his volume, but his words were like icy daggers.

"And what else could I do, hmm…?" Slasher mused, his glistening razor-sharp teeth showing. "Beat them to a pulp and hope they won't do it again? These creatures intend to murder all life on my world, including me. I must protect the ones I swore to safe-guard. I would have thought a fellow warrior would understand. But then, you don't seem to be much of anything, and certainly not a warrior; you certainly don't fight as one."

Slasher's insult struck a nerve in Sonic's pride. "That's it, I don't have ta stay here and listen ta this; I'm outta here!" Sonic yelled out, bursting off into the forest leaving Tails and Slasher behind in his wake.

Tails and Slasher were silent for a long time, neither wanting to say anything. Tails was hurt far more then Slasher though, Slasher was used to being rejected by others, it happened a lot back where he came from, not everyone liked the Elite's; and they especially disliked their habit of bringing trouble wherever they traveled, not like they chose to.

Tails finally broke the unwelcome silence. "Sorry about that Slasher, I, I didn't think Sonic would react like that to you." Tails apologized, knowing it was kind of a hollow apology.

"(Sigh) It's alright Tails…" Slasher began, but suddenly his ear twitched as he heard the singing birds stop their melodious cries begin to be over shadowed by the loud cawing of approaching crows. All the song birds in the area stopped their singing and took to the skies all at once, flying in the same direction the crows were headed. The forest was suddenly plunged into an eerie silence and both Slasher and Tails started to feel anxiety growing as the silence dragged on. The sound of rustling bushes nearby drew their attention across the clearing and both stood their ground, unsure of what was approaching.

Suddenly, Scratch and Grounder burst out of the bushes and stood triumphantly at the edge of the clearing. "(Bah ha aha ha) Well, well, what do we have here?" Scratch mocked as he put his silver wings on his hips. Slasher readied himself for a fight, but was still unsure what might happen. Tails on the other hand looked less the worried.

"I don't know Scratch, what?" Grounder asked as he turned to face the robo-chicken. In doing so however, Grounder's treads rolled on top of Scratch's toes.

"(Bakah!)" Scratch screamed as Grounder crushed his poor little toes. "Get off my foot you moron!" he yelled desperately trying to push the heavy robot off his foot. Grounder rolled backwards so that Scratch could pull his foot out from under the treads and after doing so grabbed his foot and started hoping around in a comical fashion as he wailed out painfully and started arguing with the numbskull robot.

Seeing this display, Slasher relaxed from his fighting stance and exchanged a confused glance with Tails. "(whisper) Um, Tails, who **are** these clowns?" he asked, keeping his voice down so to not gain the attention of the bickering robots.

"(Sigh) It's just Scratch and Grounder, they're a couple of dim-witted 'Badnik's we fought way-back-when." Tails explained half-heartedly.

"Were they tough?" he asked, though by watching those two still arguing he figured he could guess the answer.

"To put as Sonic said once: "I've had a tougher time with a toaster." Tails replied laughing as he finished his quote. Slasher didn't know what a toaster was, but he laughed anyway, it certainly sounded funny the way he described it.

"What was that!" Grounder yelled when he heard what Tails said.

"What are you doing here; shouldn't you be cleaning a toilet somewhere?" Tails mocked placing his fists on his hips chidingly.

"Stay out of this small fry. We're here for the freak show!" Scratch threatened pointing his feathery finger at Slasher menacingly. "So if ya don't wanna get hurt; buzz off."

_"Why would they be after Slasher?" _Tails wondered as he shared a surprised glance with the red dragon. _"I may not know why they're after him, but there's no way I'm going to let them capture him."_ Tails assured himself before reality came rushing back to him. "There's no way I'm going to let you just walk in here and take him, Scratch." Tails said clenching his fist as he stepped in front of Slasher defensively. "(Whisper) Slasher, get ready to make a run for it, I'll hold these tin cans off." Tails whispered over his shoulder to Slasher.

Scratch looked less then surprised at Tails' defiance and simply shrugged his shoulders confidently. "(Bah ha hah ha!) Do you really think a little pip-squeak like you can stop **us**!" Scratch scoffed, grinning evilly seeing Tails' worried expression.

"Bring it on ya over grown trash can!" Tails shouted boldly as he readied himself to fight. He was alarmed when he felt someone place a hand on his shoulder.

He looked behind himself to see the hand belonged to Slasher, standing proudly beside him. "You're **not** alone." Slasher stated plainly with a smile on his face, stepping out from behind Tails to his side as he spoke.

"Ha, you think teaming up with that freak will help you beat us… think again." Scratch proclaimed triumphantly.

"My name is Slasher, you ca tell your boss that; that is, **if** you manage to limp your way back to tell him after we're though with you that is." Slasher smirked confidently, flashing his arms out to the sides, allowing his battle claws to extend from the armbands.

"OOOOhhh, I'm shaking in my treads now, right Scratch." Grounder mocked by shaking his body pretending to be scared. "Robotnik sent us out for you, but I'm sure he'd be more then happy with **me** if I bring Tails back as well." Grounder gloated, a wicked grin crossing his plated face.

"Hey! Who says you're going to get the credit for catching them. I was the one who spotted them!" Scratch shouted angrily at the obstinate machine that stood a good two feet shorter then himself.

"So, I'm going to be the one who'll **actually** catch them, I'm the one with all the gadgets and weapons popping out of my arms; all you can do is beak off." Grounder accused sticking the tip of his drill-bit hand against Scratches torso.

"WHAT I'D I TELL YOU ABOUT THOSE BAD PUNS?" Scratch screamed, peaking furiously on the top of Grounders green head.

Tails and Slasher exchanged bewildered glaces of amusement at the spectacle that the two robots were putting on. "They always lose focus like this?" Slasher asked, his grin widening as Grounder countered Scratch's peaking with a few mild laser blasts in the butt.

"Yep." Tails nonchalantly shaking his head in embarrassment.

"No wonder Sonic beat them so easily." Slasher mused as Scratch resorted to beating Grounder with his metal wings.

"Well, we can see you two are busy, so maybe you can try to catch us some other time." Tails apologized sarcastically waving for Slasher to make a break for it as he stepped back from the combating robots.

Slasher and Tails hurried to the edge of the clearing, rounding the girth of a fallen log to do so. Just as they neared the end of the log, a thin red beam narrowly cut in front of Slasher hitting a dead branch jutting out from the dead log. The branch exploded into tiny splinters causing both of them to duck behind the relative safety of the log as they shout out in surprise.

They cautiously poked their heads over the top of the log, wary that the beam might be fired again. Scratch stood triumphantly on the other side of the large clearing twirling the smoking muzzle of a laser pistol in his metallic, feathered hand.

"You really think we're **that** stupid?" Scratch shouted out.

"Is that a trick question?" Tails called back, grinning as Scratch fired a wild shot over his head. "Since when did you have weapons like that anyway, Scratch?" He shouted to Scratch, keeping low in case Scratch fired again

"(Bah hah) Robotnik gave us some new upgrades, how's about we test them out on them Grounder?" Scratch jeered twirling a pistol in each of his wings.

"Sounds good to me, Scratch." Grounder agreed retracting the drill on his arm and extended a metal hand, clenching it for greater emphasis.

"If you think that some fancy weapon you have is going to beat us, guess again." Slasher shouted, raising his head higher above the log defiantly.

"Oh, they ain't the only one, what got new toys…" a new, yet strangely familiar, voice said from behind Tails and Slasher as a brown, round object landed on the ground next to Slasher coming to rest against the log.

Slasher instantly recognized the object… _"One of those strange round objects that…"_ Slasher thoughts stopped cold as he remembered what happened the last time he had seen one of these things. "LOOK OUT!"

* * *

End Ch 10

I told you things were heating up, and the ensuing fight is going to be awesome, mass ass-wupping was never better. Sit tight because I'm going to try and update the story as soon as possible.


	11. Ch 11 Best Laid Plans

Sorry to leave you folks on such an evil cliff-hanger, but before the ass-whopping can commence, we must first do some more plot stuff, sit tight, things are building fast now.

* * *

**A Visitor From Afar**

**Ch 11. Best Laid Plans

* * *

**

Sonic raced through the trees of the Great Forest at a terrifying pace, yet though his feet raced forward his mind raced backwards, pondering the recent events. _"That creep Slasher's gotta lotta nerve to say what he did. How can Tails stand that guy? We're s'pose to be best buds, how can he want to hang with him more then me? Maybe we'd be better off I we let Robotnik turn him into a bot" _Sonic screeched to a stop realizing what he said and looked around the forest, still in deep thought. "(Groan) What am saying! I may not like that guy much, but nobody deserves that. I need ta talk ta Sal, maybe that'll make me feel better."

Satisfied with this course of action Sonic burst off again into the forest heading back to Knothole. "Besides, I need ta get somethin' ta eat, I left all my chili dogs back with Tails and ole' 'Blade Boy'." Sonic joked to himself as he streaked though the forest.

* * *

Ten seconds later….

Sonic came to a halt just outside of Princess Sally's hut and checked his wrist watch. "Ten seconds! Man, I must be gettin' slower; either that or I should'a takin' that left at those boulders back there!" Sonic shrugged his shoulders and approached the wooden door and gently knocked on the door. "Sal, ya home?" No reply. "Must be out; no problemo this hedgehog is the master a' hide 'n seek." With that Sonic raced of to check all of Sally's usual hang-outs.

* * *

At that moment….

Rotor toiled away with the sniper rifle he had shown Sally last night, not because he wished to disobey the Princess; rather he hated leaving a project incomplete. With a satisfied sigh Rotor placed the last piece of the rifle into position and closed the small opening in the now complete weapon. He just finished securing the rifle and the many spare ammo clips he had custom built into the cabinet and pulled up another project he had been working on when he heard a gentle rapping on his door.

"C'mon in…"

With that the d the door opened on it's well oiled hinges, and Sally Acorn entered the hut. "Hi Rotor." The Princess greeted with a friendly wave.

"Hey Sally, what brings you here?" Rotor turned around on his bench stool to face Sally.

"Nothing urgent, I'm just curious how that new cargo plane is coming along." Sally folded her hands behind her back innocently.

"Just about ready, once I finish a few minor tweaks we'll be able to transport our heavy equipment and deploy them a lot faster." Rotor reported feeling a rush of pride for his newest creation.

"That's great Rotor! How much will the plane be able to carry at a time?" Sally's face lighted up in delight at the good news.

Rotor scratched the back of his head as he tried to remember the information. "Um, let's see… I figure we should be able to carry about 30 tonnes or so."

"Excellent, Rotor; that will make it a lot easier to set up our signal jamming towers and deliver supplies to the out-lying Freedom Fighter groups." Sally was absolutely beaming; normally they would have to lug the materials needed to build the jamming towers the Freedom Fighters used to disrupt Robotnik's scanners on foot; through the typically rugged terrain of the great forest. Because of that they could only transport some of the materials at a time and that meant in took longer to set them up and maintain them. With this new transport they could carry all the materials at once, set the tower up and be gone in half the time.

"By the way, Sally; after the meeting, when you left to talk with Tails, I took a look at your plan for tonight's raid and… well…" It seemed to Sally that Rotor seemed a bit hesitant to say what was on his mind to.

"You have a suggestion Rotor?" Sally rested her hand on her hip inquisitively raising an eyebrow.

"Um, does Nicole have a map of the objective?"

"Sure thing Rotor." Sally lifted Nicole by her strap and flipped her open. "Nicole, display tactical hologram for tonight's mission." As ordered, the computer spewed out a three-dimensional holographic, partly cut-away image of the factory..

"Well, …" After a moment of orientating himself with the hologram and analyzing the planned movements of their forces, he finally built up the courage to say what was on his mind. "…the plan was to enter through this skylight here…" Rotor pointed to the skylight on the top of the building that was highlighted by yellow glow and a red arrow that moved through it to indicate troop movement. "…then spread out and plant the demolition charges on the manufacturing machines and get out the same way." He traced out the path the arrows follow to the array of machines that built what the factory produced and back to the skylight.

"Yea, so what do you suggest?"

"Well, there's an airshaft on the side of the building here…" Rotor pointed to the airshaft; it was barely distinguishable from the dark coloured wall, but it looked just the right size to be able to allow several Mobians loaded with explosives to fit inside without having to remove the backpack they'd be carrying. "It would be a lot easier to gain access from here."

"One problem with that Rotor; Nicole, display Swatbot patrol routes." Sally folded her arms in front of her chest sceptically. "Acknowledged." The computer reported as several red dots appeared on the image representing Swatbots. The dots moved about the map following the interior corridors and the outside on regular intervals. The spot Rotor had specified happened to be the same spot where two Swatbots going in opposite directions went past right in front of the airshaft Rotor was pointing to. But even as the two passed each other and were no longer able to watch the shaft's opening a two other 'bots rounded opposite corners of the building. "You see Rotor, there's no way we can sneak past the guards without being spotted."

"I know that Sally, but see, this one on the left corner pauses at that corner while the other walks along the wall. We can take that one out, then take the second one out right after and sneak in before the other two come back. Once we get in the shaft it will take us right to the factory machines we're shooting for, unlike going through the skylight. Not to mention it doesn't leave us as exposed to being spotted like trying to repel down from the skylight." Rotor's enthusiasm for such a risky plan struck Sally as rather odd; it wasn't like him.

"True Rotor, but as soon as we pop out of the airshaft there a large group of Swatbots patrolling right next to the airshaft." Sally said trying to sound dissuasive._ "Still he does have a point; the airshaft would be safer and more covert then going in through the skylight. The skylight only gains us access to an operations office, not the factory itself, they would have to sneak out of the office and along some dangerously exposed catwalks to reach the target, and then they'd have to repel down to the factory floor to reach the manufacturing machines. The route Sally had chosen would allow them to avoid the majority of the patrols and the skylight was not defended at all compared to the airshaft. But if they could get past the guards patrolling outside it would cut the risk of detection in half. And even though there were more guards around Rotor's path, there were enough places to find cover" _Sally pondered Rotor's suggestion long and hard and after some minutes there was only one thing that troubled her about this revised attack plan.

"I don't know, Rotor, it sounds like a good idea, but… **how** are we gonna' take the guard at the airshaft out?" Sally asked pointing her hand at the tiny red dot denoting the Swatbot she referred to.

"I had a couple of ideas on that, Sally. My first idea was to have Sonic take him out, he's fast enough to take them out before they could report an intruder."

"No good, I had to change the attack plan because of recent events. Me and Sonic are going after that crystal Robotnik took from Slasher tonight, we'll be breaking into Robotnik's lab while you Bunnie and Antoine hit the factory." Sally explained, much to the walrus's surprise.

"A crystal…! You're going after some crystal!" Rotor could not believe what Sally was saying. "This factory we're hitting makes the circuitry that Robotnik uses in all of his weaponry, shouldn't hitting the factory be more important then retrieving some trinket Robotnik took from someone we don't even know we can trust?"

"Rotor, retrieving that crystal could very well be just as important as taking out that factory." Sally breathed out a sigh; she had hoped to not have to start yet another argument about Slasher today.

"(Hmph) I fail to see how." Rotor scoffed, crossing his arms over his broad chest.

"That's not important right now, Rotor; I'm more interested in hearing your other idea for getting past the guard tonight."

"Oh, right…" Rotor muttered realizing they were off topic. "Well, I wasn't sure if you'd approve of the other idea…"

"Oh, come on, Rotor; out with it. You know I value your input." Sally coaxed putting her fists on her hips in annoyance.

"(sigh) Alright, Sally… Well, I thought… since there are so many guards protecting the shaft, maybe we could… Nicole, could you back the image up a bit…" Nicole zoomed the image of the factory back, allowing the two of them to see some of the surrounding buildings.

On the hologram they could see that it was quite a distance from the nearest building to the airshaft Rotor was planning for. The other troubling thing Sally noticed about set up was that there was no cover between the gap; no way could anybody get close enough to take the guard down without being spotted.

"I don't know Rotor, that's an awful lot of ground to cross." Sally said pessimistically. "I don't think anyone could get across the gap without being spotted. It's a lot easier to get to the skylight…" Sally had Nicole rotate the image so they could see the back of the factory. Unlike the side the airshaft was on, the nearest building was much closer; in fact only a small alleyway, a short jump across, separated the abandoned building from the factory. "All we have to do is gain access to this abandoned warehouse, get on the roof and get across the gap between the roofs and we're there."

"I know, but if we're able to take out the guards at range it would be six whole minutes before the first two bots returned. Plenty of time to cross the open area, break in, plant the bombs and get out."

"But we don't have something that can take a Swatbot down from that range." Sally made certain to point that out.

"Well, actually we do…" Rotor corrected meekly. "Remember that sniper rifle I showed you last night…"

"Rotor! You were wanting to bring a rifle on a covert operation!" Sally exclaimed, completely shocked that Rotor would even conceive of using a rifle.

"Look Sally, if it's noise you're worried about, that's not a problem." Rotor backed away raising his hands defensively towards the vexed princess.

"I fail to believe that! You know how loud a rifle is, even **with **a silencer!" Sally was now shouting.

"But my rifles aren't ballistic, I designed them to use magnetic coils, they're practically silent."

"That's not the point Rotor! I can't believe you of all people would suggest such an aggressive change in our tactics!" Sally was bordering on furious now, and Rotor becoming increasingly frustrated with Sally's attitude.

"I'm only trying to cut down the risk we take on missions and maximize how much we hurt Robotnik's operations! Think about it Sally, my idea takes fewer risks then doing the old skylight routine! Robotnik's no doubt caught on to that tactic by now; he might even have it wired to alarms!" Rotor's shouting caught Sally completely off guard; Rotor was never prone to such outbursts.

An uneasy silence fell on the room for a few moments as Sally regrouped from Rotor's outburst, but Nicole broke the silence first. "Rotor does have a point Sally; by using Rotor's new sniper rifle, and perhaps using the assault rifle to take out the guards inside, the probability of detection is decreased by nearly forty-nine-point-one-three percent."

"Now don't you start too, Nicole!" Sally warned to the sassy computer.

"Look, Sally, I didn't mean to burst out like that… but even Nicole agrees; it would be much safer to go with my suggestion."

"I know, but… my great-great grandfathers banned the use of any gun-like weapon ever since that Overlander killed my ancestor; it's a royal doctrine, I just can't go throw that to wind that easily." Sally turned herself away from Rotor to hide her tears and lowered her head in defeat. All the stress had finally gotten to Sally, all the effort of convincing the other Freedom Fighters to trust her about Slasher, whether she herself was doing the right thing regarding him, this gun issue, it became too much stress in such a short time.

Rotor could see Sally crying, despite how she tried to hide it, Rotor suddenly realized that how much stress he had been causing her her. And he suddenly felt of pang of regret for forcing this weapon issue onto her.

"I'm sorry Sally, I didn't mean to upset you." Rotor apologized, placing his webbed hand on her chest comfortingly, his voice much more like the calm collected inventor she knew so well. This helped calm Sally down immensely and she stopped sniffling, though a few tears still streaked down her cheeks. "It's just that… Sally, when your ancestors made that decree, they weren't at war." Rotor placed his hand comfortingly on her shoulder.

"(sob) But my father didn't have to resort to using guns against the Overlander's during the Great war."

"That's not entirely accurate, Sally…" Nicole butted into the conversation. "When Warlord Julian took command of the royal army, your father, King Acorn, approved the creation of early versions of the Swatbot robots that were armed with more advanced laser weapons. These robot soldiers turned the tide of the war and in truth, ended the conflict."

"See, it's not like you'd be disgracing the family name, but I'm not going force you to make a call on this, alright Sally?" Rotor smiled, exposing more of his large tusks, in turn creating a very goofy grin on his face that Sally couldn't help but smile at. Somehow that always managed to make everyone grin.

"Thanks, Rotor." Sally hugged the big lug softly which Rotor returned.

Moving apart, Sally closed Nicole up and looped the computers strap onto her shoulder and let it rest upon its usual spot on her hip. Something still bothered Rotor however, and he needed an answer. "Sally, I still don't understand why it's so important to retrieve that crystal from Robotnik."

"I guess I do owe you an explanation don't I? Uncle Chuck contacted me not too long ago." Rotor's arms fell from his chest in surprise; Uncle Chuck rarely called and when he did it was only when he needed to tell them something important, and most of the time it was bad news.

"He said that Robotnik has been trying to unlock whatever powers the crystal possesses, probably to put to use in some kind of weapon. Tails has already seen the crystal transform Slasher when he first found him; who knows what else the crystal can do. If Robotnik finds out whatever sort of power is locked within it, he might create a weapon that could destroy us all."

"Why don't we just ask him what it can do?" Rotor suggested while rubbing his chin.

"Unfortunately Tails took Slasher on a picnic in the forest; no telling when they'll be back."

"Oh, well I guess…" Rotor was cut short when the he heard voices approaching the door outside.

The door swung open and in stepped Bunnie carried by an exasperated Antoine, though by the scowl on her face she obviously didn't want to be carried. "Oh foah the last time Sugar-'Twan, I can walk just fine, mah legs are fine!" she groaned, pushing herself out of Antoine's grip so she could stand on her own.

"But Mademoiselle Bunnie, your legs, they could be how you zay: chilling up; like your arm did." Antoine protested trying to pretend he wasn't s exhausted from carrying Bunnie. Bunnie quickly got a safe distance away from the overprotective coyote guard.

"That's freezing up Antoine…?" Rotor corrected instinctively, then did a double take as what Antoine said finally sank in. "Wait, did he say your arm froze, Bunnie!"

"Ah'm afraid so Sugar…" Bunnie lowered her head sadly, disliking the prospect having to sit here in Rotor's shop, bored out of her skull while he repaired her left arm.

"Really? Let me take a look at that Bunnie…" Sally reached her hand out to inspect the limb, and now heavy robotic limb; but Bunnie pulled it away before Sally was able to spot the holes Slasher's tail spikes created when they penetrated her arm.

"Oh it's nothin' Sally-girl, just a quick fix and Ah'll be back 'n kick'n."

"A quick fix! You **zis** a quick fix!" Antoine said in disbelief lifting the limp arm up so that Sally and Rotor could plainly see the damage.

"Oh my gosh, Bunnie. How did this happen to you?" Sally exclaimed as she and Rotor gasped in shock at the deep, oil stained holes in her arm.

"Zat fiend Slashaire'!" Antoine spoke out before Bunnie could defend Slasher and explain what happened.

"What! Slasher did this to you?" Sally's eyes bulged out from Antoine's remark.

"Oui, he should be…Mffff…" Antoine was cut short by Bunnie when she slapped her hand across Antoine's mouth to silence him.

"Hush Antoine…" Bunnie's tone was harsh.

"What's going on Bunnie, did Slasher really do this to you." Sally looked at Bunnie with curiosity from her behaviour.

"What 'Twan didn't say was that this happened when we were in a friendly sparin' match." Bunnie pushed Antoine back with her hand still over his mouth.

"Doesn't look like it was all that friendly to me." Rotor added pointing at the damaged arm.

"Oh, it's nothin', it's just a lil' ole' accident." Bunnie waved her hand dismissively. "Those tails spikes a' his pack quite the wallop…" Bunnie quickly slapped her real hand over her mouth as she realized what she had blurted out. _"Me and mah big mouth!"_

"Slasher did this to you with those little spikes on his tail!" Rotor wasn't sure if he had heard her right, that couldn't be possible; those spikes couldn't have punched through nearly a centimeter of metal plating.

"He shore' did Sugar, even went through mah shield too."

"What? How could he do that, Rotor built that energy sheild to withstand one of Sonic's spin-dash attacks!" Sally baffled as much as Rotor, this just didn't make sense.

"Well, he rolled into a little ball and swung that tail out like a whip down onto mah arm, Sally-girl." Bunnie was grateful that Rotor and Sally were too focused on figuring out what happened rather then blaming Slasher for doing something that had just been an accident.

"But that still shouldn't of had enough force to break through the energy shield and drive themselves this deeply into your arm!" Rotor experimentally placing a finger into one of the larger holes and was surprised as half his finger disappeared into its depths.

"Well, those blades 'a his drained a good deal 'a mah shields power supply." Her tone sounding dismissive of the fact.

"What!" Sally and Rotor said in unison from shock.

"Oh, he had excellent control a' those blades a' his, he's a really good fighter. Neither of us were hold'n back, it was the best match Ah've eve'a had." Bunnie casually waved her hand with a coy grin on her face.

"But why were you sparring at all?" Sally sounded exasperated from all these half answers.

"Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time." Bunnie innocently explained. "Maybe Ah was just so plain tired 'a have'n nobody will'n ta practise with me I jumped at the lil 'ole dragons offer. We both just got a lil' too int'a the fight and then this happened."

"Let me get this straight Bunnie: you and Slasher were practising, and Slasher held his own, even though you weren't holding back?" Rotor crossed his arms in front of his chest waving one finger absent-mindedly as though his finger's motions were sorting his thoughts as he spoke.

"Yep, he even took a stun shot from mah pulse cannon, and he still kept comin'. Up close even!" Bunnie nodded her head affirmatively.

"Wow, this guy is one tough customer…" Sally rubbed her chin in thought of such strength.

"He might be a bit too tough Sally…" Rotor piped up, feeling a bit anxious about the prospects this new development might mean. "I mean if this guy really is working for Robotnik, or even if he decides to take us out for his own reasons, we might have a really tough time beating him. Maybe we should think of placing him someplace safe until we know for sure?"

"True, but if he is in fact on our side, would you really want to help someone that locks you up just because of paranoia."

"I suppose you have a point there Sally." Rotor confided seeing Sally's logic.

"We'll keep an eye on him, but I would like you all to give him the benefit of the doubt for now."

"Alright Sal." Rotor nodded his head sincerely.

"As you wish your highness." Antoine grumbled trying to sound sincere.

Suddenly everyone present turned their heads as they heard a loud noise somewhere off in the distance. "What the hoo-hay was that?" Bunnie asked turning to face the others.

"I don't know, the weather report did mention there could be thunder showers later tonight, but not this early." Sally responded with equal curiosity as Bunnie. "I wonder what that could have been?"

* * *

At that exact moment + half a second….

"LOOK OUT!" Slasher screamed as he grabbed Tails by the shoulder and hauled him over the log. Together they bolted away from the log as fast as they could; just in the nick of time. The grenade went off with a massive blast splitting the log at the point of detonation, sending the two halves flying head over-heels in opposite directions and splintered wood in every direction away from the blast point.

Tails and Slasher only managed to run a meter or so before they were caught in the shock wave of the blast; launching them forward. "Whhhoooooaaaa…!"

"Ugh!" both hit the ground simultaneously, instinctively covering their heads to protect themselves from the debris that the blast had picked up with it. After the majority of the large chunks of earth returned to the ground Slasher and Tails bravely looked up and shook their heads clear of their disorientation. Miraculously, they had not been injured from the blast, seeing as the log absorbed most of the shrapnel and the greater part of the concussion force of the blast.

Slasher looked behind him and widened his eyes to see just how lucky they had both actually been. In place of the large, almost scenic, decaying log was a massive, flaming crater that attested to the power of the device. Leaves that had been knocked off their branches fluttered daintily to the ground. The sheer destructive power of that tiny round object left Slasher in an awed stupor.

Suddenly, something moving beyond the blazing crater broke Slasher's concentration. A dark silhouette just beyond the flames and smoke walked towards them, through the flames and smoke, and moved without the slightest signs of the fire or smoke bothering it whatever so ever. What emerged from the haze and smoke made Slasher's jaw drop.

Slasher was barely audible, shocked by the figure that emerged from the flames. "Impossible…!"

* * *

End Ch 11

On no! what could it be, will our hero's be able to fight off Scratch and Grounder, and who is this new combatant? (As if you can't guess) maybe its time I stopped talking and perhaps write the next chapter already? Well, everything takes time to sit tight you'll be seeing lots of action soon so don't even think of changing stories now, we're just getting to the good stuff! Especially since you just sat though all the more boring chapters.


	12. Ch 12 Dude! Where's the Kid!

Alright you guys/girls know the drill by now I'm sure: the full Disclaimers and legal stuff is on the first Chapter and carry over for ALL subsequent chapters. How do you like the story thus far? Please send any comments you have on this story I'd love to read the feedback. But now, on with the show…

* * *

**A Visitor From Afar**

**Ch. 12 Dude! Where's the Kid!**

**

* * *

**

"Hmm… whatever made that noise, I can't hear it anymore." Sally looked out Rotor's window, but saw no clouds, she turned back to the others. "And there's no clouds in the sky, so it can't be thunder."

"It's probably nothin' Sally-girl. Nothin' ta get worked up over." Bunnie patted Sally on the back.

"You're probably alright, Bunnie." Sally smiled, grateful that she had such great friends in such trying times like these.

"Princess Sally…" Nicole suddenly started to vibrate getting Sally's attention. Sally promptly took Nicole into her hands and opened her up. "Receiving priority com-link, code delta; level three encryption."

"Sounds serious…" Bunnie mused as she and the others gathered around Sally and Nicole.

"Open communication channel, Nicole." Sally pushed the playback button on the communications array on Nicole's keypad.

Instantly an image appeared on Nicole's display screen. The person displayed before them before them none other then Uncle Chuck. "Princess Sally, I've got something very important to tell you…"

"What's the matter Uncle Chuck?" Sally inquired with curiosity in her eyes.

"It's regarding that creature Tails rescued last night…"

"Slasher?" Sally asked confirming who they were speaking of.

"Oh, so that's his name…?" Uncle Chuck rubbed his chin with one hand as he pondered this new information.

"Didn't Sonic tell you that when he saw you this morning." Sally asked tilting her head puzzled by this.

"No… in fact when he was here, Sonic didn't seem to really like this 'Slasher' person being around much at all; always scowling when he mentioned him and so on. Anyway, that's not why I called you…"

"Did you find something on who Slasher is?" Sally asked, the prospect of getting some answers exciting her.

"No, but I think it's safe to assume he isn't working Robotnik."

"What makes you so sure of that?" Rotor asked his words lanced with spite.

"Well, as you all know Robotnik stole some sort of crystal from Slasher last night. He's been analyzing that crystal for sometime now, diverting a lot of time from many of his other operations to do so." Chuck explained.

"What iz this having to do weeth anthingz?" Antoine asked shrugging his shoulders in confusion.

"I'm getting to that sonny-boy." Chuck scolded holding his robotic hands out in front of himself to silence Antoine. With his audience now quiet, Chuck cleared his throat from habit and continued his report. "(Ahem), Robotnik believes that crystal possesses powers similar to Chaos Emeralds, or what have you. Problem is; he can't figure out how the thing works. He believes that only Slasher can unlock the power. He's sent out several patrols of 'Badniks out into the great forest hoping to capture him."

"Oh dear…" Sally gasped realizing that both Tails and Slasher were in great danger since they were still out in the Great Forest.

"But we beat those no-good-'niks easily, even Sugar-Tails can handle them…" Bunnie started to say before Uncle Chuck interrupted her.

"Unfortunately it looks like Robotnik had them all upgraded with new weapons, and what looks like a new combat matrix that's far better then the old ones. They'll be a lot tough to fight now, that combat matrix allows them to think and react faster in a fight, and even helps them learn their opponents tactics." Uncle Chuck leaned closer to the monitor to emphasis the seriousness of this problem.

"Well, even if Sugar-hog doesn't take to kindly ta Slasher, there's no way he'll let some goons drag him off without a fight." Bunnie stated with great confidence.

"You're right Bunnie, Sonic may not be able to get along with everyone he meets, but there's no way he'll let someone be captured and robotisized if he can help it. Thanks for the warning Uncle Chuck, we'll be in touch." Sally said, closing Nicole, ending the communication. Sally pondered for a minute; she knew Bunnie was right about Sonic's nature, if anybody knew how Sonic's head worked Sally did, even though getting in **his** head drove her crazy sometimes. "Still, I should contact him and warn him…"

"Warn me about what?" a voice suddenly asked from the open doorway behind the Freedom Fighters.

"Ahh!" Everyone shouted as they turned around quickly and jumped back in unison as they spotted the source of the voice was none other then Sonic, leaning up against the doorframe proudly. Sally almost dropped Nicole from her surprise. Rotor scowled at Antoine, who had leaped into his arms in surprise like a cowardly girl. "Heheh… er, you have ze very sparkly teeth, messier, what toothpaste do you use?" Antoine joked trying to cover up his own embarrassment. Rotor huffed and let Antoine fall to the floor in an indignant heap.

"What have I told about sneaking up on us like that!" Sally shouted, stamping her foot on the floor, diverting the hedgehogs grinning face from her blushing cheeks of embarrassment, and forced herself into a scowl. In a flash something dawned on her, her eyes told of her rising anxiety. "Wait a minute… Sonic, where's Tails?"

"He and 'Blade Boy' are probably chow'n down on my chilli dog's by now." Sonic replied dryly saying his self appointed nickname for Slasher in a most insulting manner.

"You left Tails out in the Great Forest ALONE!" Sally almost screamed.

"Chill Sal, he can take care of himself." Sonic held up his hands in hopes that would stop the fuming princess.

"Sonic, what were you thinking!" Sally continued to berate Sonic, all of which made no sense to him since he knew nothing of the 'Badniks.

Bunnie walked up behind Sally who was stomping her feet in anger and placed her hand on her shoulder to calm her down. "What Sally-girl is trying to say is, Slasher had Sugar-Tails are in danger."

"What!" Sonic exclaimed standing up straight; abandoning his casually resting place against the door frame.

Sally exhaled releasing her frustrations as Bunnie patted her back soothingly. "Thanks Bunnie." She felt much calmer, her anxieties were as high as ever, but now she wasn't furious anymore. "We received a call from Uncle Chuck just now saying that Robotnik sent out some upgraded 'Badniks into the forest. And they are after Slasher."

Sally didn't need to elaborate any farther as the quick thinking hedgehog filled in the rest of the picture. "Tails…" he muttered to himself quietly. He was about to turn and race off to find Tails when he felt someone's outreached hand grab his shoulder.

He looked back to see Sally as the one who had stopped him. "I'm coming too, Sonic."

"No way Sal, too dangerous…" Sonic protested waving his hands in front him in a cutting motion and knocking her hand away form his shoulder.

"No way; yes way, hedgehog, and that's final." Sally said with such authority that Sonic knew she was set on coming along, whether he approved or not.

Knowing it to be pointless to argue Sonic nodded his head in defeat. "Count me in Sally-girl…" Bunnie offered, but Sally held up her hand clearly saying no.

"Sorry Bunnie, but Rotor still needs to repair your arm." Bunnie couldn't really argue with that, she'd be more of a hindrance then any help in her condition. She resentfully nodded her compliance.

Antoine glanced between Sonic and Sally and Rotor and Bunnie and quickly thought of an excuse. "Um… I shall stay here to keep Madame Bunnie company."

Sally nodded with a grin and looked to her left at Sonic. Hopping into his waiting arms she wrapped her arms around his neck for support and looked at the handsome hedgehog. "I know I'm going to regret saying this but; let's juice." She said with dejected smile. Sonic returned the grin, but his more of an evil, teasing one.

Sally would not be disappointed as that evil grin confirmed Sally's fear with Sonic bolting out of the hut at full speed. Moving at his current speed is not exactly something fun when you're the passenger. Sonic's grin widened as Sally shrieked pushing her face into his chest so she didn't have to watch the ground zip by at such a frightening speed.

Sonic enjoyed the warmth their bodies were sharing, but whatever thoughts he was having regarding the beautiful princess in his arms were interrupted as another, much louder clap of thunder ripped though the air. Sonic screeched to a halt at the bridge that crossed the brook which split the village in half. "A storm with no clouds?" he mused looking into the sky but seeing no clouds.

Sally into Sonic's eyes in shock, realizing what that sound really was. "That wasn't thunder Sonic… that was an **explosion!** They found them!"

Sonic's eyes widened in shock. "Hang on Sally, I'm gonna juice it to the max." he shouted tightening his grip on Sally and taking off with such speed that leaves lying on the ground chased after the blur in his wake, and a few people standing nearby were knocked to the ground from the shock wave.

Sonic ran as fast as he could, only two thoughts cycling around in his head. "Why did I leave him alone? I just hope I can reach them in time!"

* * *

End Ch 12 

Short chapter eh? but now… the stage is set for a massive Battle Royale! That's right! No more waiting for that big fight I've been promising. it's coming up NEXT CHAPTER! You can't leave now so hang tight the action's just getting started.


	13. Ch 13 Battle Royale

Legal stuff is on first chapter, you people should know this by now.

Yay, its finally here, the battle royale! Well what are you waiting for? Why are you reading this! The good stuff is below. Get to it!

* * *

**A Visitor From Afar**

**Ch 13. Battle Royale

* * *

**

"You!" Slasher shouted pointing his finger as he stood up; a furious scowl on his face. "I sliced you in half, you should be dead!"

The one Slasher pointed at folded his mechanical arms across his chest and laughed. "Hahahaha…. That's the beauty of being a robot, I can be rebuilt…" Coconuts sneered evilly, thoughts of payback filling his electronic thoughts.

"Unlike you organic trash!" a new voice stated as the hovering Spheroid Orbinaut entered the clearing. "Right Crabmeat?"

At the introduction the small crab clanked its way out of the bushes, snapping his claws menacingly. "Better believe it Orbinaut, I'm dieing to get some payback. How 'bout you Buzz-Bomber?"

"I'd (buzzzz) be happier to see them **dieing** Crabmeat, how about you (buzzzzz) Cater-killer?" the hornet-like robot buzzed as he flew out of the canopy of a tree.

"The master just told us to bring him back alive, he never said he had to be unharmed." Cater-killer pointed out as he bust out of the ground, his razor-sharp spike glistening in the bright day-light.

With no further warning Crabmeat lashed out one of his large claws at Slasher. His claw moved much faster then Slasher remembered from last time and did not expect his claw to latch on around his ankle with such speed. Crabmeat threw Slasher high into the air much to Tails' and Slasher's surprise.

"Wooooahhh!" Slasher shouted as felt himself flung high into the air, spinning and flipping wildly.

"Hahahahaa…" he flies pretty well, lets keep him up there…" Orbinaut laughed, releasing one of the orbiting balls around him from its magnetic orbit and sent it flying right at the free-falling Slasher. He retracted the spikes on the ball just so he wouldn't harm him… too much!

The projectile hit Slasher square in the chest, sending him back up with the force of the blow. Slasher flew back up for a few feet. "What do you think Buzz-bomber?"

Just as his upward momentum began to fade the hornet-like robot burst out of the trees again and flew on a collision course with Slasher. "I think he (Buzzzz) stinks… (Buzzzz) sorry, but you're grounded!" the robot mocked, ramming Slasher on the right cheek, the force increasing the speed at which Slasher hit the ground.

"UGH!" Slasher groaned as he hit the ground hard. Tails ran beside Slasher, relieved to see him still awake and uninjured.

"Grounded! That's an insult to me!" a muffled voice said from below Slasher and Tails; though the owner of the voice was made clear when Cater-killer burst out of the ground; ramming Slasher in the chest, knocking Tails to the ground with his head. "Take that freaks!" the loathsome worm muttered; slithering back to his comrades.

"I told you; my name is Slasher!" he shouted out and he tried to muster the strength to stand after the repeated beatings.

"(Bah hah) Like we care! Beside it's a dumb name anyway!" Scratch laughed, rolling his head back on his long neck.

"You're one to talk: 'Scratch'!" Tails sassed with great pleasure. Scratch started fuming at that remark.

"That's it you little two-tailed freak, we might have to bring him…" pointing to Slasher. "…back alive; but you're dead!" Scratch raised his laser pistols and centered them on Tails. He pulled the trigger, but Tails revved up his tails and shot up into the air before the blast hit him with time to spare.

"As if; you couldn't hit the broad side of a barn!" Tails mocked as he landed back beside Slasher, getting an even greater rise out of Scratch.

The other 'Badniks now began to close around the pair forming a wide horseshoe pattern with only Coconuts preventing them from fleeing. Tails and Slasher were encircled and had little chance of escape, unless someone acted now.

"(whisper) Tails, remember that trick you showed me in the village; when I say now, do it!" Slasher muttered trying to speak in riddles that Tails could understand but the 'Badniks wouldn't. Tails thought for minute then nodded he understood Slasher's meaning.

"Trick, what trick! What are you talking about!" Grounder demanded, pointing his arm at them menacingly.

"I don't know **what** you're talking about…" Slasher lied innocently.

"Yes you do! What were you talking about!" Grounder shouted, his patience wearing thin.

"Alright you win, see these…" Slasher reached into his sash and pulled out several of his custom smoke bombs. "… These are like those things the monkey threw at me, but much more powerful, easily enough to destroy all of you!" a grin of malice and false-bravado crept across his long muzzle,

The 'Badniks looked at each other nervously; unsure of what to make of this. "You better back off before you get blown apart!" Slasher raised his hand holding the small spheres above his head, preparing to throw them at the intimidated 'Badniks. Some of the 'Badniks did back up a little, others didn't, like Orbinaut and Scratch.

"Is that so; prove it!" Scratch said, calling Slasher's bluff.

"Suit yourself…" Slasher said coolly shrugging his shoulders. Slasher moved to throw the spheres down; causing the "Badniks to a jump back as they expected him to throw the spheres at them. "NOW TAILS!" He threw the smoke bombs to his feet, each exploding smoke bomb creating a loud noise, a massive flash and huge plumes of black smoke as they struck the ground. Within the black cloud Slasher grabbed hold of Tails' hand and felt a himself being pulled aloft as Tails started to fly them up and away with the rising black plume.

"Ahhh!" Scratch and the other 'Badniks screamed in surprise.

"My optics, can't see!" Grounder wailed incoherently. Inside each of their respective minds their onboard computers began to recalibrate the optic sensors and return sight. It took a moment or two but finally all of them could see plainly again.

Scratch stared furiously at the column of smoke that the bombs were still creating. "You think that can hide you! Coconuts, give 'em a double!"

"You got it chicken legs!" Coconuts replied, pulling out two grenades and threw them on opposite sides of the rising plume of smoke. The combined power of the grenades created a massive explosion, and threw up huge spouts of earth. The grenades did serve to disperse the smoke column. But as the dust settled Scratch could see one thing plainly…. "THEY'RE GONE!" Scratch screamed gripping his head in horror. "Spread out and find them!"

The 'Badniks ran off in different directions, frantically searching the surrounding forest. But at that moment Slasher and Tails sat on the limb of a tree not too far away snickering amongst themselves. "Man Slasher, the way you act sometimes, I'd never of imagined you were one to bluff like that!" Tails bemused aloud.

"What, you think I've survived this long without bluffing my way out of a few fights?" Slasher smiled mischievously. The pair shared a momentary laugh.

"So what now?" Tails asked, his ears drooping. "We can't get back to Knothole with these 'Badniks roaming the forest…"

"And I don't even know the way back. Besides, I don't run from a fight!" Slasher added, slamming a closed fist into his other hand.

"But how are we supposed to fight them; its seven on two! Plus, they're way tougher then they use to be!" Tails replied, his voice mired in doubt and worry.

"We can't worry about that, we just have to fight them one at a time if possible; they may be tougher, but we're smarter." Slasher patted Tails on the back with a reassuring smile.

"Sez you!" Crabmeat called out beneath them at the base of the tree. Before Tails or Slasher could react, Crabmeat clamped onto the tree with his claws and sliced the trunk in half. The tree began to fall and with Slasher and Tails on one side it began to tip over on their side.

"Tails, jump for it!" Slasher yelled, pushing Tails off the branch as he jumped in another direction. Tails fell from the tree, whirled up his tails and flies away, but Slasher isn't quite as fast to react. As he leaps from his branch, another branch catches Slasher and brings him down with the rest of the tree.

Tails wheeled around just in time to see the tree crash to the ground with the sickening sound of branches snapping under the force. "Slasher!" Tails shouted scanning the fallen foliage for any signs of movement from Slasher.

"(Buzzzzz) Worry about your own skin, fox!" Buzz-Bomber shouted before firing off several pin-sized missiles. Tails spun around and flew behind another nearby tree to avoid the miniature missiles. The missiles struck the trunk of the tree, and despite their size the ensuing explosions shredded the large tree trunk to splinters, causing the canopy to come crashing down.

"Whoa, those little things pack a wallop!" Tails shouted in surprise as he quickly dodged the falling tree canopy.

"I'm (Buzzzzz) so glad you noticed; now lets (Buzzzz) see what they do to you!" Buzz-Bomber retorted; firing off another salvo of missiles. The missiles drew nearer but just as they would make contact Tails flew straight up, narrowly dodging all of them. But as a confident smile crept across Tails' face he looked behind himself to see all five missiles turn back; zeroing in on his position.

"Yeeow! They never did that before either!" Tails shrieked, racing off to distance himself from the missiles. The deadly projectiles closed in at a rapid rate. "(gulp) I don't think I can out run those things! I'll just have to out smart them!"

"Not if I don't let you!" Buzz-Bomber chuckled, firing his stinger laser gun as he chased after Tails. Tails, now forced to duck and weave through laser fire while at the same time keep ahead of the missiles, found it hard to focus his mind to think of a way out of this mess.

* * *

While Buzz-Bomber busied himself with Tails, Crabmeat chuckled away with pride at bringing down Slasher with such ease. "Heh heh heh heh… so much for him." He boasted with great glee as he clattered closer to the canopy so he could dig his prize out.

"Don't count your young before they hatch, Crab-legs!" Slasher shouted as he lunged at Crabmeat from the fallen tree. Slasher did a hand-spring off of Crabmeats body landing behind him with ease. "I'm not down for the count yet!"

"What! Grrrr…. No matter I'll take you down anyways, I'm tougher then you remember!" Crabmeat proclaimed extending his claws too quickly for Slasher to react. Both claws clamped onto Slasher's vambraces. "Let's just see how tough you are without your hands!" he said with a sinister malice in his voice.

He started to squeeze, but much to Crabmeat's amazement the metal did not seem to be buckling under the considerable pressure he exerted on them. "That's impossible… how can those things resist my squeeze! No matter, I can just as easily pull your arms right out of their sockets!" Crabmeat loosened his clamping claws a little, and pulled Slasher's arms apart, pulling as hard as possible to rip his arms right out.

"ARGHHH!" Slasher yelled in pain. Thinking quickly Slasher noticed Crabmeat had pulled him too close to his body. Slasher kicked Crabmeat several times in the body with his sharp toe claws, barely doing any damage.

"Hahahaha! You think that's going to do anything, I've seen how you fight, your little tricks, and now you're helpless!" Crabmeat laughed at Slasher's feeble attempts, pulling harder to reward his efforts.

"UUUGHH! You fought me as an **adult **(ugh) not as a **kid**!" Slasher stated lifting his tail back, then swinging it with all his might at one of eyes that sat atop the antenna sprouting from Crabmeat's body. The dagger like spike shattered the robotic eye sending sparks forth from the gaping wound.

"AHhhh! MY EYE!" Crabmeat screamed in anguish, releasing Slasher from his death grip to sooth the damage. Slasher had no time to rub the pain out of his shoulders since this opportunity would not last long.

"Ergha!" Slasher drove an extended battle claw deep into Crabmeats' body. Feeling a small electrical jolt Slasher quickly retracted the blades just before a much bigger electrical surge coursed through the crab's body.

The body writhed and twitched wildly before falling to the ground limply. Slasher stared over the wreckage for any movement when suddenly one of the crab's claw swung up, clipping Slasher under the chin. "(Zzzt) Power (bzzzzt) failure… Mmmmemory lost… AI mmmatrix deactivating to conserve power (zzzt) initiating (Bzzzzzt) self-defence combat pro-zzzt protocol." The machine spoke; its tone not the normal voice of Crabmeat, but a much more machine like quality.

"How many times do I have to kill this thing!" Slasher groaned to himself. The robot blindly charged at full speed, swinging its claws wildly. Slasher stood his ground, extending the other battle claw in preparation. The machine grabbed hold of Slasher's left arm, Slasher swung down with his right battle claw, slicing into the robotic arm, leaving two sparking gashes. He swung again cutting the arm about three quarters of the way through. The claw lost its grip and the weight of the claw tore the arm the rest of the way off, falling to the ground with a muffled thud.

The robot backed away, its one eye gazing at its opponent with a blank, unemotional robotic stare that was creepy in a way. Slasher stared back at the robot, planning his next move. Which became abruptly interrupted as a laser blast hit the soft dirt in front of Slasher. He looked to his right and saw Scratch running up to attack. Slasher dove behind a tree just as several more shots connected with the side of the tree. "Great, now what!"

* * *

Tails weaved between tree after tree dodging both laser fire and those pesky missiles, especially since Buzz-Bomber fired new missiles to replace the ones that hit the trees. Tails knew he couldn't keep this up forever; sooner or later he would tire out and get hit by something.

Tails broke hard right around a particularly large tree, while Buzz-Bomber, who had been flying too closely, was forced to break left around the other side to get a better firing angle, narrowly avoiding the concussion blasts of the missile impacts. When Buzz-Bomber cleared the trees trunk he look ahead expecting to see Tails, but saw nothing but forest. He kept flying straight, scanning for the fox's heat signature.

He passed slowly underneath the canopy a low lying tree when suddenly Tails burst out of the overhead leaves, drop-kicking Buzz-Bomber square in the head. Buzz-Bomber flipped several times before he righted himself automatically. One of the antenna atop his head had been broken off from the attack and Buzz-bomber growled in anger.

"Nyah nyah! Bet you can't catch me!" Tails taunted waving his hands beside his head with his tongue hanging out. Before Buzz-Bomber could say anything Tails flew off at full speed; straight up one of the larger trees.

Buzz-bomber growled again and took off after his prey. The two spiral upwards around the massive tree, dodging one another as well as the thick branches along the trunk. Tails landed on one of these branches for a moment and waited, mostly to catch his breathe, but when Buzz-bomber rounded the tree, oblivious to Tails' position, Tails saw his chance. Buzz-Bomber passed under the branch exactly the way Tails had wanted.

Timing his move perfectly Tails leaped onto Buzz-Bomber's back, grabbing hold of the two rocket pack supports. "Hey! Get off'a me!" Buzz-bomber shrieked in surprise.

"Fat chance bug-boy!" Tails replied holding for dear life as Buzz-Bomber speed up. Buzz-Bomber ducked and weaved through the forest trying to shake Tails off his back; all to no avail. Tails pulled himself higher onto Buzz-Bomber's back and released his grip on the right rocket support. He punched several times on the robots head, though he found the metal far too tough to punch through.

Tails suddenly got a brain storm and decided to act on it. He grabbed hold of the left rocket with both hands then leapt off, still holding onto the thin metal support. As Tails had expected the support broke off, causing Buzz-Bomber to careen out of control.

"YAAAAGHHH! Moving too fast! Can't slow down!" Buzz-Bomber wailed just before he collided into the trunk of a massive tree. The large bug-bot exploded into little bits of hot, smoking metal that fell back to the ground.

"Whew! Now to find Slasher…" Tails breathed out a sigh of relief and turned to head back and find what had become of his friend. From the eerie quiet of the forest Tails could suddenly pick out the ringing report of several laser shots. "Oh no… Slasher's in trouble!" Tails wound up his twin appendages and readied himself to race back and help his friend when a familiar voice caught his attention.

"Tails!" Sally shouted, as Sonic screeched to a stop a few meters away. She ran up to him hugged him with so much relief flowing through her that she failed to notice Tails couldn't breathe. "Oh, thank goodness you're alright…"

Sonic walked up behind Sally and put a hand on her shoulder, snapping Sally back to reality. Realizing she was squeezing the life out of Tails she released her grip.

After allowing Tails a moment to catch his breathe Sally decided to ask the kit about what she had noticed when they first arrived. "Tails, where's Slasher?"

"He's back that way, there's a whole bunch of 'Badniks after him and their badder then ever; we gotta help him!" Tails pleaded with his infamous sad-puppy-dog eyes.

"That way?" Sonic confirmed pointing his finger in the direction Tails had specified.

"Yea, hurry, I can hear lasers firing!" Tails shouted as Sonic disappeared in a cloud of thrown up dirt.

"C'mon Tails he might need some help." Sally added running off.

"Right behind you 'Aunt' Sally" Tails shouted as he raced after her.

* * *

Meanwhile at Slasher's location….

"Give it up short-stuff; you can't hope to beat me!" Scratch shouted out, firing several more laser blasts at the tree Slasher had taken refuge behind.

Slasher growled in frustration; _"The chicken's right, as long as he keeps shooting I can't get close enough to attack, just like with the Swatbots last night."_

Scratch had Slasher pinned, there were no other trees nearby that he could reach without being hit. And Scratch knew it; ordering the other 'Badniks gathered behind him to move in on his position. With sinister grins the other bots obliged, slowly advancing on Slasher's position. "Just be careful…" Scratch warned as he continued to fire off shots at Slasher's tree. "… Just look what he did to Crabmeat!"

The other bots looked to the right and saw the badly damaged Crabmet dancing around, waving his arms around like a fool singing: "I'm a little tea pot, short and stout…" the other bots shook their heads in dismay. The damaged systems were trying to reboot, but there were too many damaged systems by the looks of it.

The sinister grins on some of the bots disappeared; while others became determined to avenge the little bot. Grounder took point while Scratch and Coconuts followed in behind leaving Orbinaut to hang back as Kater-Killer dove into the ground.

Slasher sat at the base of the tree, keeping his back tight against the rough bark of the tree, but hearing a sudden lack of incoming laser blasts, he could guess what would happen next. Determined to not let that happen, Slasher extended the battle claws on his arms. Slasher could hear footsteps, (or tread steps, whatever) approaching on his left so he slowly, quietly picked himself up off the ground; keeping his back tightly pressed against the tree trunk.

Slasher flattened his ears and spikes against his head, poking his head around the tree trunk. He got a quick glance before Scratch fired on his position; forcing Slasher to duck his head back.

As Grounder neared the tree he converted one of his arms into a large laser gun; while his other arm converted into a hand to steady the weapon. Grounder grinned with salvage glee. _"There's no way he can get away now!"_ He started to round the tree hugging it closely, planning to catch him by surprise.

Slasher knew of Grounder's approach, but he didn't know he if he were fast enough to strike before Grounder could fire. Suddenly Kater-Killer's head poked out of the ground on Slasher's right; although Katter-Killer had surfaced facing the wrong direction. Kater-Killer looked around in bewilderment, turning his whole body around before either Slasher or Kater-Killer noticed one another. Slasher's heart jumped when he saw Kater-Killer right next to him and even more so as he realized Grounder was just starting to edge his way around the tree.

Kater-Killer hissed in evil delight and lunged for Slasher. Slasher batted Kater-Killers head away, deflecting his main attack, but those claws were still a threat and could easily slice him up. Slasher did the only thing he could think of… he leapt backwards, vaulting over Grounder just as the 'bot rounded the tree. Slasher momentarily balanced on Coconuts' head before redirecting himself towards Scratch. As Slasher flew threw the air towards Scratch he spun himself in mid-air, letting his arms swing freely, making him look like a spinning top.

Thanks to Scratch's improved reflexes he jumped back in time to avoid the brunt of the dragon's attack. Even so the spinning blades sliced into Scratch's metal armour, leaving distinctive claw marks in the thick metal hide.

Slasher landed gracefully in the midst of the 'Badniks, not moving even as they surrounded him. Anger filled the emotionless eyes of the 'Badniks, but if Slasher were worried in the least bit, his unwavering frown and cold fierce stare showed no sign of it.

"We have him now!" Grounder grinned as he closed in on their prize.

Slasher looked up from his stone posture and looked to Scratch with a grin of undeniable confidence and spoke with a voice lacking any trace of fear or uncertainty. "We'll just see about that!"

* * *

End Ch 13

O curse these cliff-hangers eh? Well I'm sorry to report that this will be the last up date for a while as I'm leaving for a vacation now. (Curse not having a laptop!) But fear not, this does not mean I've given up the story, I will update as soon as I get back so hang tight!


	14. Ch 14 This is going to Hurt Isn't it?

Man am i getting sick of typing this but: all disclaimers and legal stuff can be found on the first chapter and as always encloses all subsequent chapters... good day!

* * *

Hey dudes I'm back from vacation and alrready back to school! O well, that's life. Well as I expected it took some time, but here's the next chapter hot off the press(or scanner as the case may be), and believe me I'm as pissed off about breaking up the fight scene as all of you no doubt are. This way however I can write it without making the fighting at the end appear rushed.

* * *

**A Visitor From Afar**

**Ch 14 These Sticks and Stones **

**WILL break your bones!

* * *

**

The 'Badniks encircled Slasher with evil, menacing scowls on each of their artificially crafted faces. But Slasher maintained his impervious expression, preventing the 'Badniks from taking any satisfaction in knowing that Slasher is worried. Worried about the he fate of his young friend Tails would be one, but much more prominent on his mind lay with on how he could get out of this lovely mess.

_"One thing's for sure; these bulky bandages are just slowing me down!"_ he grumbled to himself. He reached up to the bandages that wrapped over his shoulder and pulled the white fabric away from his skin. "You wanna piece a' me?" Slasher warned, raising his extended battle claws and cut the fabric with ease. Ripping off the rest of the layered bindings, exposing his toned chest and deep crimson skin; still sliced and bloody. Slasher scowled striking up a fighting stance and said: "… Then come and get me!"

The 'Badniks stared back, at creature with a sort of mild amusement. Grounder converted his arms into a pair of large laser cannons and pointed them directly at Slasher and readied to fire. Scratch and the other 'Badniks did likewise with their respective weapons. They probably would have fired too if not for the blue streak that suddenly appeared in the midst of the 'Badniks and raced around Slasher creating a whirlwind that blew all of the 'Badniks several feet away in all directions. Slasher meanwhile found himself spinning rapidly within the center of the vortex.

When the blue streak halted, there stood Sonic, arms folded across his chest proudly. "Hey trash cans, long time no see!" he mocked, clapping his hands together, pretending to dust off an imaginary patch of dirt off his hands.

"(Ba chah!) It's the hedgehog!" Scratch yelled in surprise when he finally managed to work the disorientation out of his systems.

"I've been mean'n to get even wit you!" Coconuts shouted; his robotic face contorted in anger.

"Yea, he doesn't stand a chance against all of us with these new upgrades; now we're tougher then ever!" Grounder boasted pointing his massive laser cannon directly at Sonic's head.

Slasher, still a bit dizzy and disorientated by the whirlwind Sonic had created around him, could barley believe what he saw as his vision returned. Sonic stood between him and Grounder; staring at Grounder even as the robot's laser discharged a bright green bolt of light. Slasher thought for sure that Sonic would have been killed, but when the laser hit Sonic, he… disappeared? Then suddenly everyone realized he was standing a foot to the left, snickering away.

Even Grounder stood dumbstruck by Sonic's blistering speed. If Slasher had been the one standing there, he surely would be lying dead on the ground. Sonic in actuality barely even moved two steps to avoid the blast; but because he moved so fast, it looked as though he disappeared. With a confident, if not cocky, smile upon Sonic's face he clapped nonchalantly.

"Bravo, motor-mouth, I moved so fast all you shot was my after-image. I have to hand it to you though, I actually had to dodge!" Sonic said, taking care to say it in the most provocative way possible to both intimidate and infuriate the 'Badniks.

Suddenly, to everyone's surprise; even the 'Badniks, Sonic got struck from behind. The blow sent Sonic flying forwards, past the 'Badniks that scrambled out of the flying hedgehogs path. The attacker, the already badly damaged Crabmeat clattered forward after the hedgehog. "(Bzzzzzzt) Hedgehog… (zzzt) detected, priority one, must destroy." The sparking machine sputtered out between electrical sparks and servo motors firing at random.

Sonic barely had time to rub the section of his back were the claw had struck and pick himself off the ground before Crabmeat's battered form lunged at Sonic again. Following in Crabmeat's daring, chaotic attack; the other 'Badniks joined in and attacked either of the two.

Sonic did a handspring forward to avoid Crabmeat's claw as it crashed down on the place he had been only moments before. Kater-killer followed up by lunging underground, then resurfacing breaking up the ground as he surfaced trying to get those powerful jaws around one of Sonic's fragile legs. One good bite; and Sonic could kiss his leg good-bye. Each time he resurfaced he narrowly missed as Sonic dove left and right to avoid the gaping jaw, or those razor sharp claws on his body.

Adding to his dilemma, Coconuts began also lobbing grenades at Sonic, the detonations throwing up huge geysers of dirt and leaves and creating equally large craters; preventing him from keeping on enough even footing to make full use of his speed. Scratch also began to open fire with his twin laser pistols. Each blast forced Sonic to dive away in yet another direction, all the while avoiding attacks of the other 'Badniks.

* * *

Slasher on the other hand fared no better as Orbinaut and Grounder turned to attack. Grounder converted an arm into a grenade launcher and lobbed shell after shell of deadly explosives at the dragon. Slasher dived away to avoid the blasts, eventually finding a large tree that provide him some degree of protection. 

"Heh heh, you think that will save you?" Grounder shouted as he converted his other arm into another laser weapon. This time the laser beam fired a long cutting laser. The beam burned away at the bark of the tree slowly cutting its way through Slasher's hiding place.

While Grounder kept Slasher pinned, Orbinaut floated away from the main fighting, moving to flank Slasher's hiding place, hovering behind bushes to hide his stealthy approach. The instant Orbinaut got into position and found a clear shot of Slasher huddling behind his cover he activated one of the new upgrades in his system. The spiked balls spinning around Orbinaut's body lit ablaze with a mighty whoosh as flame engulfed them.

Slasher's ears twitched in the direction of the new sound and he looked over in time to see two of these blazing fireballs hurtling towards him. A roll to the left allowed him to avoid one, as it crashed into the leaf-ridden ground, igniting the dry leaves instantly. Using his special gravity system, Orbinaut pulled the blazing fireball out of the hole it had made in the soft soil, flying back to Orbinaut and resuming its previous orbit. The blaze just to his right was the least of Slasher's concerns as the second fire-ball hurtled right towards the sprawled out dragon.

Just when Slasher thought his bacon was fried, he felt someone grab his shoulders and pull him aloft just before the fireball struck the ground. Slasher looked up in surprise and felt a wave of relief as he recognized his saviour to be his missing friend. "Tails!" Slasher exclaimed in relief.

"I thought you could use a lift." Tails kidded, smiling back at the dragon. "Are you alright?" he asked his face taking on a note of seriousness.

"Fine thanks to you…" Slasher replied returning a smile of gratitude. "That's two I owe you now!" Seeing Tails expression of relief he looked at the result of the attack just below him. The fireballs had started two small blazes, but because of the morning dew the fires didn't spread far and burned themselves out.

Orbinaut growled in rage to see his target saved at the last second by that hateful fox. Of course Grounder didn't fail to notice Tail's arrival either; converting his arm into a large sniper-laser. He sighted his weapon on the forehead of the fox as he lifted Slasher away from Orbinaut; oblivious to the impending danger.

Grounder had Tails right between the crosshairs, his targeting computer, calculating and allowing for all possible factors; this shot would not miss. "Say goodnight, brat…" Grounder muttered.

Then, suddenly… "HEEEYAAHHH!" Sally screamed hitting Grounder with a flying side-kick to the head. The sudden, surprise attack threw off Grounder's aim and made him shoot wide, nailing a tree branch instead of Tails.

"Whoa!" Tails shouted as the shot narrowly screamed past Tails' head. Tails looked to his left and saw Sally and Grounder going at it nearby. "Hang on Slasher!" He told Slasher as he peeled off to the right and dove towards the ground. "Slasher, tuck and roll!" Tails pulled up just above the ground and released his grip on Slasher's shoulders. Understanding what Tails meant he hit the ground and roll to his feet without Tails ever having to slow down. "I'll take Grounder, you deal with Orbinaut!" Tails called back to Slasher as he banked to head back to Sally and Grounder.

Sally smiled after she kicked Grounder, pleased to see her intervention saved Tails from being hit. Unfortunately, in doing so, Sally let her guard down for a moment and Grounder was quick to capitalize on it; striking her from behind and knocking her to the ground.

Sally rubbed the back of her head where Grounder hit her; grateful the hit didn't knock her out. A clicking noise behind her head suddenly alerted her to the laser cannon Grounder now trained on her. Grounder fired, but Sally rolled to the side quickly enough to dodge the blast.

She rolled to her feet and wheeled around to see Grounder bringing the laser gun around to fire again. Sally readied herself to leap out of the way again, but before she could Grounder extended a cold metallic hand at Sally; closing its fingers tightly around her neck. He tugged with his extended arm, pulling Sally forward onto her knees. Now Sally had no chance of dodging, not with Grounder holding her right where he wanted. And Grounder looked like he loved the feeling of having her at his mercy.

Sally heard the laser build up a charge, the weapon now loaded. Sally closed her eyes, not wanting to witness her own demise. Suddenly Tails crashed into Grounder, head-butting the heavy bot from the side; causing Grounder's arm to flail out to the side just as eh fired, missing yet again.

"Tails!" Sally shouted in surprise and worry. The impact sent Tails into a daze, and Grounder started turning to deal with the new interloped. Sally would not let that happen, she stood up and pulled on the arm still clutching around her throat, yanking Grounder towards her and drawing his attention away from the dazed fox. It distracted Grounder for a moment, but it proved to be just enough time for Tails to recover, take flight and start kicking at Grounder's head furiously from above.

"Ow! Hey; cut that out! Ow!" Grounder winced as he took kick after kick. The kicks were hardly doing any damage, being more of an annoyance then anything, but with Sally still pulling away to free herself, it split Grounders attention in more directions then he liked.

"That's it, come here, you!" he shouted; his patience coming to a screeching halt. He converted his spare hand into a razor sharp buzz-saw. He swung frantically at the airborne menace, but each time Tails narrowly dodged the spinning blade. Each miss allowed Tails to kick Grounder on the other side of his head, making Grounder more angry, and more importantly; careless. "Hold still you little….!"

Tails flew lower, and started flying circles around Grounder's head. All the while Grounder furiously slashed at empty air. Tails made his move and flew right in front of the bot and when Grounder's buzz-saw equipped arm swung at the fox, the spinning blade sliced right into the extended portion of his arm; severing it right off. "AAAhhhh! Why you…!" Grounder shouted out as the severed arm fell to the ground limp like a piece of spaghetti; releasing Sally from its grip.

Sally coughed a few times, clearing g her lunges of the stale air. Tails had Grounder's full attention now and he chased after him as Tails lead him away from Sally to allow her to recover. Sally started to chase after them, fearing Tails would get in over his head; but when a loud explosion reached Sally's ears a quick glance at the origin of the blast told her that Sonic needed help even more. She skidded to a stop and ran as fast as she could, trying to devise some sort of plan of just how to do so as she went.

* * *

Sonic ducked and weaved in and around the numerous craters created by Coconuts' grenades. With so much uneven ground it would be nearly impossible for him to achieve any great degree of speed, especially when he had so many attackers to deal with at once. In fact he and Crabmeat sped right past Sally without even noticing her. Of course she had to duck when several more grenades and laser blasts flew past her. Sally noticed as she covered her head that Scratch's laser fire seemed to follow only Sonic; not her! 

Sally thought quickly: _"Crabmeat seems to be fixated on just Sonic, and Scratch and Grounder haven't noticed me yet…"_ with that she made her move. She sneaked up to Coconuts and waited for him to reach behind his back to fetch another grenade from his dispenser. As soon as the arm reached backwards Sally took the opportunity and grabbed hold Coconuts' arm.

Before Coconuts could utter any words of confusion, Sally hurled him off his feet with a Judo throw right towards an unsuspecting Scratch. The Coconuts' head crashed into Scratch's body, breaking the small light bulb on top of his head. The force of the blow jarred the sensitive electronics inside the simians head, effectively knocking him out till his automated systems rebooted his on-board computers. Sally chuckled as Scratch tried to push the dead weight of Coconuts off of him, with little success, when she noticed the grenade lying at her feet; _"It hasn't been activated!"_ This gave Sally an idea.

She swiped the round object up off the ground and looked over to Sonic. Crabmeat remained hot on Sonic's heels and every once and a while Kater-Killer would surface for a few seconds before diving underground again just as Sonic turned to try and attack.

"Sonic, catch!" Sally shouted, tossing the explosive to Sonic's open hands. Sonic gingerly caught the grenade and after diving into a nearby foxhole (AKA one of the grenades craters) quickly looked it over to see how to activate the darn thing. With his quick thinking mind Sonic figured out how to use the thing in a faction of a second.

A good thing, because the next second Crabmeat bounded over the edge of the crater Sonic had taken refugee in. Sonic's heart skipped a beat in surprise and he leaped out of the crater, followed closely by Crabmeat. Thinking quickly, Sonic pushed the arming button on the grenade and it at rapidly approaching crab shouting: "Hey, genius, catch!"

The robot reflexively used its one remaining claw to catch the grenade. The robot brought the object in front of it one working eye as if trying to analysis the object. Sonic grinned in self-satisfaction, and leaped out of the crater while Crabmeat was distracted. He ran to Sally, who in turn had been running up to Sonic. Grenade still in claw, Crabmeat clanked up the side of the crater after Sonic. Sonic glanced back and saw the robots approach, but more importantly he saw the figure running up to him; right towards the ready-to-blow grenade _"Sal…!"_ Sonic poured on the speed as best he could to reach her in time. Suddenly the grenade went off destroying what remained of the robotic crab with one massive, fiery explosion; disintegrating the small robot into tiny, flaming pieces. Sonic dived forward, tackling Sally to the ground, narrowly avoiding the shrapnel that flew past.

Parts of the robot flew out in all directions luckily Sonic had tackled Sally and himself into a nearby crater; avoiding the flying pieces of twisted, heated metal. Sonic and Sally poked their heads up over the top of the crater and sighed to see the smouldering remains of Crabmeat.

"Thanks Sal…" Sonic started to say, but Scratch abruptly interrupted Sonic.

"That's gonna cost you!" Scratch hissed, pointing both of his laser pistols at Sally.

"Yea, and it's gonna be a double fee…" Coconuts chuckled, tossing a grenade up and down in his hand.

Sonic stepped in front of Sally and raised his arms out to the sides protectively. "You want Sal, ta gotta go through me…" Sonic's eyes narrowed his mind set on protecting his dear friend.

"Heh, suits me just fine." Coconuts laughed, unimpressed.

"My, aren't se the courageous hero…" Scratch mocked, lowering his pistols so he could place his wings on his hips for emphasis to his words. "I hate heroes!"

"Sal, make a run for it, I'll handle these…" Sonic started, but he stopped short when he felt Sally use Sonic's shoulders as a springboard. Vaulting herself over him, Sally spun and flipped gracefully through the air. When she reached a point of her jump where she was between the two 'Badniks she twisted herself in the air, giving each bot a powerful mid-air spinning kick that sent each of them reeling to the ground. She then landed gracefully in a crouched position between where the two had previously stood.

"Don't worry about me Sonic, I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself." She said to Sonic as she turned to face him in a sassy rebellious tone. Sonic's jaw dropped in amazement then smiled at the feisty princess.

* * *

Elsewhere at that moment… 

While Sonic and Sally were holding their own, Slasher found himself to be in not as good a situation. After Tails had dropped him off, Slasher looked back to where he had last seen the floating ball known as Orbinaut; unfortunately he could see no trace of the blasted machine.

Past experience told Slasher to not let himself drop his guard, but even so, fighting an unfamiliar enemy of this nature made him tenser then normally. His eyes and ears scanned warily, but even with his keen senses at full alert, the flying projectile hurtling towards him from behind still took him by surprise.

The spiked ball barley missed thanks only to Slasher spotting it just out of the corner of his eye. It slammed through the thin trunk of a tree, sending the tree crashing down to the forest floor. Then suddenly another one hurtled towards Slasher's sprawled out body. He rolled left, the tip of one of the spikes gashing his right arm as it struck the ground next to him. Blood instantly began spilling out, but Slasher had no time to tend the wound. The third one was already flying right at him.

Slasher rolled right, avoiding the attack completely. Orbinaut had anticipated this counter roll, and launched the last of his four spiked balls, timing it out with the last shots impact. The projectile was too close for him to roll away without serious damage being inflicted. Slasher knew his only other idea to be extremely risky, but he had no other choice.

He raised his legs and tail and cracked his legs and tail like a whip, lifting the rest of his body off the ground high enough that the spiked ball passed underneath his body harmlessly. Slasher landed on his feet and breathed out a sigh of relief at having dodged that last attack so narrowly. He then saw that Orbinaut's weapons had not yet returned back to him… _"He's defenceless…!"_ he exclaimed in his mind. Slasher charged head long at the hovering sphere, unsure how long his opponent would remain defenceless.

He closed the distance and swung his right arm at the machine, extending his battle claws in the same move. Orbinaut bobbed up, dodging the swing. Slasher swung his other battle claw upwards, but Orbinaut simply floated to the left, dodging again. Before Slasher could attack again, Orbinaut lunged forward; head-butting… (or, body-checking, I don't know, he doesn't even have a neck!)…Slasher across his forehead. The impact left a small cut on his forehead and left Slasher seeing stars.

Just then Orbinaut's spiked spheroids returned, and having his weapons back, Orbinaut's harsh red eyes narrowed in anger. The spheres spikes retracted again, but this time the outside of the spheres started spinning, sprinkling water as they did so. Instantaneously the water froze, creating thin, sharp icicles all across the spheres surface.

Slasher stared in puzzlement at the menacing beauty of the ice-encrusted spheres as the light shone through the delicate ice crystals. Their beauty misleading as the spheres sped up their orbits. The centrifugal force created by the spheres orbits loosened the ice crystals hold on the smooth surface. When the first sphere reached the right point in its orbit the sphere itself spun harder, sending thousands of razor sharp ice crystals towards the unwary Slasher.

Slasher's eyes bulged as he realized the danger. He saw the trunk of a tree nearby out of the corner of his eye and he dove to his left, hoping to dodge the worst of the blast. The move paid off, many of the crystals at the edges of the spray lacked enough speed to leave many gashes; some minor cuts across his right leg and that side of his tail, but little more.

Slasher went straight to his feet from his roll and ran; not stopping to see if Orbinaut had unleashed the rest of the ice. With Slasher running as fast as he could, Orbinaut missed the next blast as well. But Orbinaut allowed for the next shot better, and hit Slasher with a great deal of the ice. Some minor cuts and bruises along Slasher's right side were inflicted, but none were particularly serious.

The final spray would not be so lenient however. The next blast would not miss. The ice let go of their sphere. Despite leaping at the last second for the tree trunk that would give him cover, Slasher felt several, much larger pieces of ice slice into his legs and arms and many more hit hard enough that Slasher knew there'd be bruises and cuts there later. "Yyyyaahhh!" Slasher screamed as one large icicle speared itself into Slasher's right thigh.

Slasher landed hard next to the base of the tree, the pain from his leg making it difficult to move, let alone tuck it in for a smooth roll out. Slasher rested his back against the tree, clutching the wound. The pain was excruciating, the freezing cold of the ice heightening the piercing pain.

"UUUghhh!" Slasher groaned as he pulled on the smooth, glass-like ice pike out of his flesh. The ice already started to melt against the warmth of the dragon's blood. As he pulled it out he saw the thick dragon's blood stained it with a sickeningly deep crimson red. It surprised him by just how much he actually pulled out. But as he felt the last of the ice pull free from his flesh he sighed with some degree of relief.

As soon as the ice was removed the gaping wound began to swell and over flow with blood, streaming down his leg; but then, Slasher sensed someone nearby. Orbinaut floated around the side of the tree, spikes extended from his spinning balls, looking very pleased with himself. Slasher tried to get up, but he fell onto his knee from the pain.

Slasher panted hard from the effort it took to keep his mind off of the stabbing pain in his leg even as Orbinaut hovered boldly in front of him. If he had a mouth it surely would have would be absolutely beaming with evil delight.

"(Chuckle) Oh, don't get up on my account." Orbinaut sneered. "Feel free to pas out while I take to Robotnik!" One of the sphere's spikes retracted, and Orbinaut fired the sphere right for Slasher's head.

In desperation Slasher unleashed a powerful blast of fire at the orb. "Whaaaat!" Orbinaut shrieked in surprise. The extreme heat of the fireball collided with the spheroid, igniting the small tank of fuel within the sphere for Orbinaut's spinning fire move. The blast destroyed the destroying the ball with a loud explosion. Slasher shielded his face from the hot blast. The fireball still had enough energy to continue heading towards Orbinaut. Orbinaut robotic eyes bulged in surprise as the fireball collided directly with his body. The tiny bot exploded in a blast bigger then his spheroids. With their master gone the other spheres fell to the ground, powerless.

Slasher lowered his arm to get a look at what happened he felt surprised to see Orbinaut in a scattered pile on the ground.

Slasher let out a massive sigh of relief. His moment of peace became disrupted however as he heard laser blasts coming from not too far away. "Eeeraaghh!" Slasher grunted as he picked himself off the floor. "Gotta… Eergh, help the others…"

* * *

At that moment… 

Tails ran right in front of Grounder to draw his attention away from Sally. The ploy worked, a little too well however. Grounder converted both of his arms into rapid-fire laser weapons and opened up with a hail of bright green lasers as he chased after the small vulpine.

"Yow!" Tails shrieked as laser blasts ripped through the air around him. He started to run faster, leaning forward as his speed increased. As he ran Tails revved up his twin appendages and with a quick hop into the air he let loose with all their strength, creating a massive fan behind him that propelled him to speeds nearing that of Sonic, and with an occasional kick with his toes, he kept him from ploughing into the ground.

Tails looked behind to see Grounder chasing after him, but falling behind, despite crashing through every bush he came across. Tails dug the edge of his right sneaker into the ground and with a quick change in his tails' rotation he made a hard left turn and circled back towards Grounder.

Grounder halted when he saw the fox turn, and opened fire at the side of the fox as he whizzed through the trees near Grounder. Tails circled wide around Grounder, his speed making it exceedingly difficult for Grounder to hit the speedy figure. Tails dug his other sneaker into the ground and made another hard turn, this time heading directly for the green robot.

Grounder didn't expect this to happen and fired wildly at Tails. His shots came close but as Tails raced towards Grounder, he tapped his toes off in opposite directions so as he zigged and zagged across the small clearing, impeding Grounders accuracy.

When he felt himself close enough Tails curled himself into a little ball, imitating his hero Sonic's spin dash attack. While Tails lacked the razor sharp quills Sonic posed, Tails did have his tails that, when used as a whip, were just as effective as Sonic's quills.

Tails blew past Grounder, letting his tails whip out at Grounder's body as he zipped by. The heavy hit left a deep gash in Grounder's torso that left the robot amazed. "Gaah!" Grounder shrieked, but just like any robot he didn't actually fear, his self-preservation matrix merely told him to be wary of this move and a dear need to calculate a way to counter it.

It didn't take long exactly, a few nanoseconds for the computer to think of something, but like any robot, it can't really think outside of its programming, unlike a living creature. Grounder converted his laser guns into the cutting lasers he had attempted to use on Slasher earlier and fired. The long beams made it much easier to track the speedy fox, but Tails made good use of the surrounding trees as cover.

The trunks of the smaller trees disintegrated under the power of the laser, while it left deep, smoking gashes it the larger ones. And every bush in the laser's path became trimmed at a uniform height. Tails tried his best to stay in front of the lasers path, but he found that the more times he circled wide around Grounder, waiting for an opening to attack, that all the fallen trees and branches made it tougher to remain stable at this high speed; forcing him to slow down a bit.

Grounder ceased firing with one of his cutting lasers and pointed ahead of Tails. He fired at the trunk of a smaller sized tree. The laser cut through the trunk like a hot knife through butter and sent the tree crashing down. His plan paid off when the tree fell on Tails pinning him underneath. "Ooohhh…" Tails groaned as he rubbed his head. Luckily the tree was too small to inflict any great damage to Tails, but he still could feel a bruise forming where the tree had hit him.

Grounder rolled up confidently, his robotic mouth filled with pointed, digital teeth. Tails gulped under his breathe as he struggled to pull himself out from under the tree trunk. Grounder rolled over to the trapped kit proudly; pointing the cutting laser straight at Tails' head. "Gotcha ya now ya two-tailed freak…"

* * *

End Ch 14 

I know, I know exactly what all of you readers are probably thinking right now: "Noooooo, how can he leave us at yet another cliff-hanger in one fight?" well believe me, I hate having to do this just as much as you guys/girls do. However, as it stands this fight scene thus far has taken over 16 pages on word to write, so I need to break up the action for a short while. but rest assured this is not the end of the action, the plot has a few more twists to take yet so stay tuned. hey what do you know, i actually got through one of these author notes without making any stupid, redundant jokes? oh, wait did i just type that? aw crap, well, see you folks next chapter...


	15. Ch 15 Battle's Edge

Blah blah blah, you know where the legal stuff is, lets get to the fighting already!

* * *

**A Visitor From Afar**

**Ch. 15 Battle's Edge

* * *

**

"Gotcha ya now ya two-tailed freak…" The green 'Badnik proclaimed; pointing the laser at the entrapped fox. Tails closed his eyes and looked away from the 'Badnik in fear.

Then suddenly: "NOOO!" Slasher screamed as he whipped two smoke bombs directly at Grounder.

The two silver spheres smashed right into Grounder's head; leaving two large, black singe marks on his polished green armour. "Aaahhh!" he shouted in surprise. The impact of the miniature explosives did little damage but did greatly surprise Grounder.

"What da!" Grounder muttered as he rotated his treads to the right while Tails craned his head over to see as well. There, standing on a nearby, recently felled tree, stood Slasher, limping distinctly on his right. "You wanna piece a' me?" Grounder threatened pointing a metal drill at the dragon.

"You threaten me, and try to kill my friend…" Slasher stated, whipping out his battle claws in mid-sentence. "… you better believe I want 'a piece of you!"

"OOoo, I'm shak'n in my treads." Grounder mocked fear, while two boxing gloves popped out of his metal arm cowlings. Slasher's eyebrow's shot up as he tried to figure out exactly what Grounder expected to do with the comically large bright red gloves.

Grounder hopped back and forth on his treads imitating a boxer's fighting rhythm; much to the bewilderment of Slasher. He had never seen boxer's where he came from, so this seemed extremely strange to him. Grounder, jabbed a few times shadow boxing with himself. But when Grounder launched another jab Slasher would have never guessed that the glove would suddenly shoot forward with his extendable arm and fly upwards giving a solid upper-cut right into Slasher's mid-section that sent him flying high into the tree canopy.

"Whooaaaa!" Slasher wailed as was hurled high into the air, then into the canopy of trees; his voice fading away as he flew out of earshot. Grounder smiled proudly, happy to be rid of that annoyance so he could……!

Grounder turned back around to face Tails, expecting him to be right where he left him. "Hey, where'd that little twerp go!" Grounder exclaimed as he realized Tails to be no longer there.

"Right here, bolts-fer-brains!" Tails shouted as he flew right for Grounder, delivered a powerful aerial punch to the bots head. In the same fluid movement Tails followed up his punch with a swift kick to his head.

"Ooof, Oww…" Grounder yelped, batting tails away with his left arm. "That, does it; that really hurt! I'm gonna…"

Tails hit the ground hard, but he never missed a beat as he leapt to his feet, spun up his tails up like a fan and darted back at Grounder. Grounder was just finishing his threat when Tails' spin dash crashed into him. Tails sliced right down the middle of Grounder's body using both appendages as one.

Tails spun through the gap the powerful tails ripped open in the robot and when he reached the other side he uncurled himself skidded to a stop a short distance away. The two halves of Grounder's body tipped over in opposite directions, the remaining metal attaching the two pieces together ripping apart with a sickly creaking noise just before the robot exploded.

Tails shielded his face from the debris as a satisfied smile crept across his face. "(phew) that's him down, I better see if the others need any help…" Tails breathed out heavily, whipping some sweat from his forehead.

* * *

Meanwhile, not too far off…

Sonic stared at Sally in amazement; sure he had seen Sally spin and twirl in practise and stuff, but he had hardly ever seen her use a move like that before; especially so gracefully. So deep in his jaw-dropped stupor that when Kater-killer leapt out of the ground just beside him, he found himself caught completely of guard. "You're mine, Hedgehog…"

Of course, you don't run at super-sonic speeds without being able to think quickly, which is exactly what Sonic did. Spinning on the balls of his feet to face Kater-killers attack, he grabbed hold of the two pincers on the side of Kater-killer's mouth and rolled backwards, pulling Kater-killer along with him. Sonic kicked Kater-killer in his now exposed belly as he flew over Sonic's sprawled out body; making Kater-killer collide with a tree several meters away.

Sonic couldn't help but laugh as Kater-killer stumbled around from the impact. "(Bah hahaha…) Ya, gotta be faster then that if ya wanna get the drop on this hedgehog. (Hah hahahaaa…)" Sonic burst out between fits of laughing.

Sally placed her hands on her hips in frustration; she could not understand how Sonic could be completely focused on a fight one second, and the next he'd become so over-confident it was ridiculous. Forgetting about Sonic's gloating Sally turned her attention back on her fight with Scratch and Coconuts.

Kater-killer shook his head, hearing a loose bolt or something rattling around inside his head. He glared at the gloating hedgehog, his eyes narrowing, becoming an even deeper shade of red. "Hey, hedgehog, you're not the only one with a spin attack!" he shouted as he clamped his mouth onto his rear section turning himself into a giant, spiked hoola-hoop.

The giant doughnut turned on its side and revved up in place before launching forward at an extreme speed. Sonic frowned at the mock, imitation of Sonic's spin dash. "Hey, that's my mo-ooovvve….."

Sonic's sentence trailed off as Kater-killer stormed up, narrowly missing his target. Sonic couldn't believe he almost got run over by that worm! He'd become over confident and he almost got killed for it. _"Stupid, stupid…"_ Sonic grumbled, bonking his fist against his forehead.

Kater-killer turned back, ripping up the landscape as he did so. Sonic became aware of the sound of something approaching. "Uh oh, no time for self-pity…" Sonic leapt high into the air to avoid the rolling caterpillar. ", cause these 'bot mean business." Sonic finished his sentence as he landed in the torn up tracks left by the spinning robot.

"Hmm… if I try to do my super-spin on him, I'll get shredded by Kater-killers spikes, sooo… I gotta find some way to stop him from spinning." Sonic thought aloud as Kater-killer turned back for another pass. Suddenly an idea struck him. "That's it!" he exclaimed, saying it not to loud so it might tip him off.

Sonic dropped to one knee and pretended to clutch his ankle in pain. "Oohh… my ankle, I must'a rolled it when it when I landed!" making sure he said this loudly enough for Kater-killer to hear.

"Ha! You're mine now rodent!" Kater-killer proclaimed, swallowing the bait.

"Oh, now, what ever will I do…" Sonic grimaced at his own bad acting; he was laying it on pretty thick there, but it didn't look like Kater-killer suspected anything so Sonic rolled with it and pretended to limp over to the nearest tree. He hopped a few times to make it look like he was trying to reach a low branch.

"I… gotta… get… up this tree, or that awesome, and deadly robot, will get me!" he said between hops.

Across the clearing Scratch watched while Coconuts took on Sally. "Who does he think he's fooling with that bad acting?" Scratch commented, thinking back on how many times Sonic had tricked himself with such stupid tricks. Suddenly, a hard side-kick to his back forced Scratch to return his attention back to his own fight with Princess Sally.

Sonic waited til the last minute before Kater-killer would mash him to side of the tree before he used his speed to zip out of the way. "What!" Kater-killer screamed, as he slammed into the trunk of the tree. "Arg… my claws are stuck in this stupid tree!" Kater-killer grunted, furiously trying to pull himself out of the soft wood, but he found he could not pull them out.

"Hasta la vista mista!" Sonic shouted as he launched himself into a sonic-spin at Kater-killer. The spinning quills sliced right through Kater-killer's metal hide like a hot knife. The remaining pieces of the robot, sparked and sputtered then, a spark ignited the lubricating oil and the whole robot exploded in a violent fireball.

"That's one down…" Sonic chided, dusting off his hands as he ignored the massive explosion behind him like it was nothing. "Now ta help Sal."

* * *

Sally in fact found herself in a rather difficult situation; Scratch kept firing his laser pistols at her, while at the same time she had to contend with Coconuts and his grenades. Hence, why she always tried to stay right in one of their faces, they couldn't use their special weapons without risking hitting the other. Sally also made sure to keep Coconuts between her and Scratch when she would fight with him for a moment before switching to the other.

Coconuts, grew frustrated and threw a wild punch, leaving an opening Sally knew all too well from her sparring practices. She grabbed hold of the bots extended arm and threw a hip into Coconuts body to knock him off balance. She then pulled on the arm she clutched and, considering the excellent leverage she gained from this, threw Coconuts right at a tree with minimal effort.

Scratch saw his opportunity and opened fire on Sally. Sally jumped into the air, and kicked off from a nearby tree, heading straight for Scratch. She spun in the air and hit Scratch with a spinning, mid-air roundhouse kick; right in his diminutive head. His body flew sideways with the force of the blow; dropping one of his pistols in the process.

Sally chased after him, temporarily forgetting about Coconuts. Coconuts shook his head and growled as he spotted Sally fighting with Scratch. He jumped to his feet and pulled a Coconut from his dispenser. "Hmmm… should I?" Coconuts paused, contemplating his actions. "If I take out Scratch I get ta take over the 'Badnik's and with Princess Sally wasted, Robotnik, will give me a huge reward!"

"Heh, like I need to sleep on that!" Coconuts laughed, readying himself to throw the grenade. "Time ta kill two birds with one stone!"

Coconuts started to wind up his throwing arm, but then, someone grabbed hold of his arm and stopped him. "Ya know, that's not a very nice thing ta say chump!" Sonic advised, standing behind him; holding the arm.

"O, well dats' okay…" Coconuts replied, shoving his elbow into Sonic's ribs. "I'll take you out instead!" Sonic folded over wheezing for air as a result of Coconuts elbow. But Coconuts wasn't finished yet. He threw a hard left hook into Sonic's face, sending him tumbling into the tree Coconuts had been thrown into moments ago by Sally. Sonic hit the tree hard, but just as he started to get up, Coconuts threw a diamond shaped object at the ground beneath him.

Suddenly a web of energy beams erupted from the devise, creating a force field that Sonic could not escape from. "Heh heh, how do youse like my new gadget? And the best part is stuff can go in, but it can't get out." Coconuts explained, feeling very proud of himself.

* * *

Meanwhile in the forest canopy above…

"Whooooaaaa!" Slasher shouted as he flew through the tree tops, crashing through every branch that crossed his path. Finally Slasher's body collided into the main trunk of a tree; slumping down till he landed on a large branch. As fate would have it, the tree he landed in just so happened to be the same one Sonic and Coconuts were fighting under; and luckier still, his crash into the tree timed out with the energy shields loud activation. As a result neither of the two below noticed Slasher's noisy arrival higher up.

Slasher rubbed his back and his rump from the impact, grateful to finally be on the ground… well so to speak. He looked down and spotted Coconuts and Sonic. It looked like Sonic was in trouble, especially when he saw Coconuts reach down and pick up one of Scratch's laser pistols and point it directly at Sonic, who seemed to be trapped in some sort of transparent bubble.

He could hear Coconuts gloating about him taking out the famous Sonic and so on, but in doing so, Slasher noticed the branch he sat on went right over him, with another large limb branching off at an angle to the simian at just the right place.

Ignoring the pain from his leg Slasher stood up on the branch and moved as quickly as possible to the branch he wanted. Meanwhile Coconuts paused his rant when he heard some rustling in the canopy above him. Annoyed with the disruption, he fired several shots randomly into the mass of leaves saying: "Stupid birds…"

The shots were far from aimed, so they came nowhere near Slasher, but it did stress to him he needed to hurry. He got to the branch he wanted and moved onto it quickly. Then, in one swift motion he swung his battle claws out and chopped the branch about three quarters through. The branch started to bend under the added weight, just as Slasher expected and he ran farther down the branch, causing it to start to fall faster.

Just when the branch gave out, Slasher grabbed hold of the branch and felt the air rush past him as he used the tree limb lkie a vine to swing right for Coconuts.

Coconuts raised the weapon up at Sonic, his finger slowly moving from the trigger guard to the trigger. Suddenly he detected the sound of wood being sliced above him and falling. He turned to his left to see Slasher swinging from the falling branch, feet first right at him. Slasher's clawed feet nailed the monkey right in the noggin, sending him flying.

Slasher let go of the branch and landed on his feet; but dropped to his knee as the pain from his leg overwhelmed him. Sonic stared, slack mouthed at the dragon. _"Isn't that the same guy I was treating like dirt before? Why's he helping me?" _he asked himself in bewilderment.

"Awww… is the big hero hurt?" Coconuts patronized him, seeing the large wound on his right leg. "Don't worry; I'll make sure you don't feel anything after I'm done wit you!" Sonic snapped out of it when he saw Coconuts preparing to attack Slasher and lunged at the energy sheild in vain.

"Ugh, come a little closer and I'll give you hurt!" Slasher grunted with his false-bravado through clenched teeth as he tried to stand. He found he couldn't get up for the pain, and also found it becoming increasingly more difficult to stay awake, let alone move; he felt so tired. Slasher saw the simin boldly walk beside him and felt a cold, metallic hand clasp onto his head spikes and pull his head upwards so he could look right into Coconuts smug face.

"Dis is almost too easy." Coconuts chuckled maliciously, placing Scratch's pistol in under Slasher's jaw, aiming it at the back of the dragons's skull, with his free hand.

Slasher fought to keep his mind in the game, but the longer he tried the harder it seemed to become. He could not let himself drift to sleep, not now. Slasher noticed in his dazed state that Coconuts had left himslef completely exposed. Slasher's dazed expression hardened as his thrust his right arm out, blades extended, right for the closest body part he could; as it happened, Coconuts' hip.

The blades sunk right to Slasher's fist, tearing through the other side of the robots armoured shell. "Aaayyiieee!" Coconuts shrieked as he stepped back, his hip joint starting to fail already. Coconuts dropped the pistol and looked around franticly, clutching his sparking wound as if it would help stop the electricity.

His energy spent, Slasher collapsed to the ground, his breathing becoming more disjointed and ragged. Sonic could not stand this feeling of absolute helplessness. He pounded away on the force field, hoping it might have some effect.

* * *

Meanwhile, a short distance away….

"Hold still, ya spoiled brat!" Scratch shouted as he fired his pistol again, only to miss the princess yet again.

Sally had been doing an excellent job of avoiding Scratch's laser fire, but she knew she couldn't keep this up forever. She rolled forward, avoiding a potentially lethal blast and as she came out of the roll, she thrust her leg up into Scratch's chestplate. The force of the blow sent Scratch backwards, his robotic wings flapping furiously to try and maintain his balance.

"Ohhh….!" Scratch fumed when he managed to regain his balance without falling on his back. He brought his blaster back up and started firing again. Sally, still on her back, did a backwards handspring to her feet, leaving the laser blasts only the soft forest floor to hit.

Scratch corrected his aim and fired, but Sally leaped sideways, towards a tree. The blast skimmed past her, but she had jumped at the tree for more then one reason. She kicked off the side of the tree's trunk and launched herself forward. She used the kick-off to gain some spinning momentum and used it to deliver a spinning kick at the wing holding Scratch's pistol.

Scratch watched as his pistol flew from his grip, but he hardly felt worried. "Grrrr… Okay, you asked for it!" he said, throwing his wings out to the sides. This caused the feathers on his wings to become longer and more blade-like.

Sally's gasped in surprise as Scratch lunged forward swinging his arms downwards to try and slice her in two. Sally dropped to the ground and spun on her hands, letting her leg swing out and sweep the robotic chicken's legs out from under him.

With his forward inertia still acting on his body Scratch tumbled over the princess, landing in a heap. Sally stepped closer to see if that had taken the robot out since he wasn't moving. Scratch turned out to just be playing possum as he kicked her hard in the chest.

The hard kick sent Sally to the ground, but just as the bot's bladed wings loomed over head, about to slash downwards, Sally shot to her feet and delivered a hard, open palmed strike to the underside of Scratch's beak. She immediately followed up with a second open-palmed strike to his chest.

But Scratch would not be beaten that easily, and he slapped her away as she lunged forward, trying to strike for a third time. Sally got knocked to the ground, but she rolled back just as Scratch's wings implanted themselves into the ground. From the ground she threw a hard round house kick at Scratch's exposed head, sending his long neck into a rapid oscillation.

Scratch stepped back, and clamped his wings against is head to stop the motion. He growled in rage and ran forward. Sally side-stepped one strike and ducked under another, but got clipped in the jaw by an uppercut Scratch had thrown by surprise; making her stumble backwards.

Suddenly Sally heard a commotion to her left and while blocking and evading Scratch's attacks she spotted that Sonic was in trouble. Sally turned her attention back on her opponent in time to avoid a swing at her head. She took advantage of the situation by grabbing hold of Scratch's outstretched arm and threw him head long into a tree. With Scratch's head, momentarily stuck in the tree Sally made a bee-line for the Sonic.

* * *

Coconuts pressed his hand on the deep gashes in his armour, hoping that maybe it would conserve the electricity sparking out of the hole. He couldn't believe his turn of luck. One moment he had his original target at his mercy and now, his right leg was inoperable, and the source of his troubles lay only a meter away, badly injured and helpless; and he could do nothing about it.

In his annoyed ramble within his head he spotted the laser pistol he had tried to use on Slasher a moment ago, almost within arms reach! Coconuts stretched his arm out, wishing he had extendable limbs like Crabmeat or Grounder. He noticed as he reached for the pistol Slasher was watching; fatigue weighing heavy in his eyes. "Don't worry chump, this'll be over real soon."

He clutched the weapon in his hand and pointed it directly at Slasher's sweat and dirt ridden face; a look of malice returning to his artificial face. So engrossed in his self-satisfaction, he failed to notice someone's arrival. "I don't think so, Monkey-boy!" Sally retorted before stomping down on Coconuts face with all her might.

The force of the blow crushed the left side of the simian's face and eye. The body twitched and writhed around for a second or two before falling still. Kicking the pistol well out of reach just to be safe, Sally took notice of Slasher, lying barely unconscious, near the damaged hulk of Coconuts. She looked up to see Sonic trapped within the shimmering force field. "Sonic what happened here?" She asked as she look around, holding her arms out to gesture to the immediate area.

"Long story Sal, but I think he's hurt pretty bad." Sonic replied pointing to Slasher's prone, barely moving form. Sally turned away from Sonic and kneeled beside him to try and see the extent of his injuries. She looked into Slasher's eyes and noticed how weak and glazed over they appeared. He was in extreme pain, but he tried to speak, but it was so weak she hushed him into silence. He said nothing of his pain, no asking of her help, he did nothing but stare at her with that deep, blank stare; like a soldier in a battle waiting patiently for help.

She shook her head to help focus herself on what needed to be done. She pulled Slasher's hand away and saw his black glove completely soaked in his own thick red blood. Sally gasped in horror when she saw the gaping, bloody wound in his leg. "Oh my gosh! Sonic, what happened to him!"

"Ya got me, but we gotta get him outta here fast." Sonic replied, gesturing his thumb in the general direction of Knothole.

Sally patted Slasher's shoulder reassuringly before she turned away and pulled Nicole out and hooked her up with the tiny device that seemed to be producing the obstacle. "Hang in there, True Blue. Once I get you out of there I need you to get him back to Knothole fast; or he might bleed to death!"

Sonic opened his mouth to protest when he suddenly found himself interrupted by a robotic cackle.

"Ohh, Princess!" Scratch's distinctly scratchy voice called out not too far away.

"Oh, no!" Sally muttered under her breathe. This was all she needed now, she had her hands full trying to free Sonic, and without his speed Slasher would surely die without immediate medical attention.

"Where are yoooouuu?" Scratch he called again, rummaging through the bushes. If it hadn't been for Sally throwing him into that tree he would have switched his vision modes to make it easier to find her, but the impact knocked out his higher level ocular settings; leaving him with only his regular light sensors working correctly despite the large crack in his eyes making them look even more artifical.

Sally didn't want to leave Sonic and Slasher when they were both so vulnerable right now. And as if to answer her prayer Sally heard an all too familiar fluttering noise pass overhead. "Tails!" Sally uttered under her breathe.

"Don't worry 'Aunt' Sally, I'll buy you some time." He called as he flew past, right for Scratch. Sally felt a wave of adrenaline and urgency overflow her thoughts now. She now had several reasons to hustle.

Sally worked feverishly on Nicole's keypad trying to shut the system down. But so engaged in her task she didn't notice Coconuts stand up, his damaged face looming ominously behind her, a grenade in his hand. Sonic, however, did notice when he looked over her shoulder. "Um, Sal…"

"Not now Sonic, I've al-most… GOT IT!" She exclaimed cheerfully as the energy field dropped. Coconuts lifted his arm to through the grneade to the ground. Sonic didn't wait to warn her. He lunged forward, pushing Sally to the ground as he rushed through her. He went into a spin dash just as the monkey raised his hand up, about to activate the grenade.

The bot disintegrated into tiny pieces under the hedgehogs powerful attack. Pieces of the monkey scattered in all directions, with the head rolling to a stop a few feet from where the body had fallen. "I hate that hedgehooooggggg(blip)" the dismembered head muttered before losing power and dieing off in mid-sentence.

Everything happened so fast Sally could barely find any words to mutter in her surprise. Sonic smiled and offered his hand to the princess. She grabbed hold of his hand and smiled, taking in the moment. But sadly it only lasted a moment.

A loud, sudden shriek of pain echoed through the woods, and Sally and Sonic both recognized its origin. "Tails!" they both shouted at once.

"Scratch!" Sally uttered.

"We gotta go help him Sal!"

"No Sonic, you have to take Slasher back to Knothole now or he won't make it!" Sally gestured in Knothole's direction.

"But…" Sonic started to protest; he didn't like the idea of leaving his best friend in danger.

"Go, Sonic, I'll go and help him, he'll be fine." Sally assured him, her tone taking on that commanding air that everyone respected and obeyed.

"Alright Sal, good luck." Sonic was about to pick up Slasher when he noticed one of Coconut's grenades lying not too far away. "Here, Sal, this might come in handy."

Sally caught the explosive as Sonic tossed it to her. She walked over to Sonic, now holding Slasher in his arms, and gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek. "Go fast." She said sweetly.

"Always do." He replied flatly before speeding off. Sally watched him disappear into the woods before she too ran off, but in the opposite direction of danger.

* * *

Scratch cackled wickedly as he loomed over the much smaller kit at his feet. Tails whimpered quietly as he held the place on his leg where Scratch's razor wings had sliced; keeping the blood from pouring out.

Scratch could taste that feeling of satisfaction from killing this little whelp, but as so many things, this was not to be his day. Sally flew straight at Scratch, feet first, in a double sidekick to Scratch's rib area. The force sent him skidding across the ground. Sally took up a stance between the injured Tails, and the really pissed off Scratch.

Sally noticed a particularly large tree just off to her left and she felt herself struck by a brainstorm. "C'mon, clucky, you want me or what!" she taunted leading him towards the tree.

When he had followed her to where she wanted him, she discretely primed the grenade behind her back and lobbed it to the base of the tree. The two circled each other, just as Sally wanted until Scratch's back was to the tree.

The grenade went off with a loud boom, much to Scratch's surprise. The tree started to fall towards him with a heavy creak. Scratch looked down and saw that the tree's shadow passed right over him. "Oh, come on!" he huffed in irritation. "Do you think I'm just going to stand here and let that thing fall on me?"

Confidently, Scratch closed his eyes, folded his arms across his chest and took one large side-step to his left, bringing him out from under the shadow. Unfortunately Scratch failed to remember one fundamental element of shaded geometry… The direction of a shadow is relative to the position of the sun!

The shadow moved to the left as the tree came closer to the ground, returning the shadow over Scratch. Scratch opened one eye and had time to mutter: "Oh, crud." Before the tree crashed down on him; crushing him instantly.

One wing of the bot not underneath the trunk flapped feebly a few times before it stopped moving at all. Sally let out a deep sigh. She had been smart and had watched the direction the tree itself fell, not the shadow, so when it came down Sally barely had to move.

Sally turned and walked over to Tails, who already started to pick himself up, though he had a definite limp in his step. "Are you alright?" She asked, lacking the concerned motherly tone Tails had expected. He nodded to being alright and since Sally was eager to get back she didn't say anything more. "Lets go home, Tails…" She said simply as she walked past. Tails nodded and hovered next to her as they returned to Knothole.

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End Ch 15

Sheesh, long fight scene eh? Oh well, but don't worry things aren't going to slow down now and the fights aren't going to get any smaller i assure you, coming soon THE MISSION. For all of who have followed the story thus far thanks for your inerest and support, especially you Ri2(YOU ROCK), you're practically all my reviews. I appreciate all the reviews, and anyone else reading, please feel free to send some reviews in as well if you wish, the more feedback, the better.


	16. Ch 16 Familiar Surroundings

Yada yada yada legal stuff blah blah blah on first page yakitty smakitty, I hate having to write this every #$$ time!

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sorry about taking so long to update but classes have taken up a hell of a lot of time and have kept me away from the computer for quite some time.

Heh heh personal rants aside… good question from Ri2 regarding Slasher's flame breathe, and there's a good explanation for that coming your way soon. Oh, and yes that shadow geometry trick does work. Try it with a pen and place a light source to the at about 4:00 or 8:00 behind you. make sure the pen's shadow is at angle from your 12:00. Then slowly ease the pen down away from you and watch what the shadow does as it gets closer to the ground. For better effect put the light source further to the right or left.

Okay, so the big fights over and everyone's wondering "what happens now? How can I, the author, possibly top that?" well, don't worry I have plenty of things planned that will keep you reading on the edge if your seats. But that will come in due time, for now its time to check in on our hero's….

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**A Visitor From Afar**

**Ch 16. Familiar surroundings

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**

Blackness. In his minds drowsy state, Slasher growled in a annoyance; this was starting to get old. Drifting on the verge of consciousness, Slasher could hear a familiar, incessant beeping on the edge of hearing as he slowly awoke. Though annoying, Slasher realized it to be a good sound; it meant he was still alive to hear anything at all. He felt very weak, but he still felt obliged to open his eyes; if only to put himself at ease.

Slowly his eyes opened, painstakingly slow. And he couldn't make much out beyond the blurred and hazy images visible. He did recognize some things though. Blinking a few times his vision cleared enough for him to see a few other features that confirmed to him that he indeed lay in the Knothole hospital.

With that assurance, Slasher felt his eyelids grow heavy again. Now certain of his safety, Slasher felt comfortable enough to close his eyes and rest a while longer. His brief awakening did not go unnoticed however as Dr. Quack smiled and quietly closed the door.

* * *

Elsewhere in the heart of Knothole…..

"Boy it shore sounds like ya'll had quite tha' adventure." Bunnie admonished with a pang of regret in her voice for having missed the fun.

"Yea-ha, it was awesome, best action I've had in weeks!" Sonic added pumping his fists enthusiastically. "Those bad-bots never saw what hit 'em."

"Oh right, and that's why Tails and Slasher are in infirmary and Coconuts got the drop on you!" Sally scoffed, folding her arms across her chest. Sonic huffed a little from the remark, but kept his overall cool about it; opting to lean back in his chair and plop his shoes on the planning table with his arms cradling his head instead.

"I am just to be glad zat everyone iz not hurt zo badly." Antoine added, relief filling his voice.

"I don't really call a hole the size of a quarter in your leg, none to small, Sugar 'Twan." Bunnie chided crossing her arms across her chest.

"What happens to zat fiend I could care less. At least those of importance are not hurt zo bad." Antoine replied, making it clear he didn't care what had happened to Slasher. Bunnie scowled angrily at Antoine but he paid no mind

"Yea, well Tails needed twenty-three stitches to close that 'minor' injury 'Twan." Rotor pointed out sternly.

Antoine shrugged and retorted saying: "It could have been worse Mon ami."

Rotor shook his hed in dismay, when Antoine got into one of these moods it's best not to try and argue with him; so Rotor changed topics. "What really worries me is how dangerous those 'Badniks were. Robotnik must have really amped up his programming if those 'Badniks gave you guys that much trouble."

"I know, it makes me wonder if he hasn't tried upgrading all of his bots with that system." Sally agreed as she looked down at the wooden planning table and sighed.

"Ah just wish Ah could'a been there ta help smash up those junk heaps." Bunnie grumbled, slamming her now functional bionic arm onto the table at the word 'smash' for emphasis.

"No use fume'n over it Bunnie. You'll have your chance if we run into more of those decked out bots." Sonic offered in his usual relax and cool attitude.

"Just what's so special about that crystal of Slasher's that made Robotnik go to such great lengths to try and kidnap him?" Rotor asked, becoming more suspicious of the newcomer.

"I don't know, Rotor. We do know it has some sort of ability to transform him physically, but Robotnik must think there's more to the crystal's power if he's showing this much interest in it. But, I want to treat this matter with discretion, we don't want to grill him with all sorts of questions like Robotnik did, otherwise he likely won't tell us anything." Sally agreed rising from her seat and leaning forward across the table using her outstretched arms to support herself. "I think that's it for now, we'll meet up around 7:00 to discuss the raid tonight agreed?"

Everyone nodded in acknowledgement. With that everyone got up and left the War Room. All except Sonic, he remained seated while everyone else filed out of the room to resume their previous tasks. Apparently Sonic had something else on his mind he wished to discuss.

Sally waited until everyone else left the room before she spoke. "Yes, Sonic, what is it?" Sally asked, expecting to receive more flak on this whole trusting Slasher issue.

Instead of the cross scowl he usually displayed when speaking of Slasher, Sonic actually looked bothered and seemed to be contemplating what to say to her. "Sal, after I ran off and left Tails and Slash behind, I said some harsh things about him… before I left too I guess."

Sally had not expected this. It looked like Sonic genuinely felt guilty about it too. Sonic continued. "As I was head'n back to Knothole, I actually wished he got turned into a bot!" Sonic lowered his head in shame. "I've never wished that on anybody before."

Sally took a seat next to the hedgehog and placed her arm comfortingly across the back of his shoulders. "You didn't really mean that did you?" Sally asked, almost in disbelief. Sonic glumly nodded yes. Sally felt shocked; she had never known Sonic could be so cold-hearted. "What? Why?"

"I don't know, I guess he really got under my skin." Sonic suggested; keeping his eyes lowered so he didn't have to look at the astounded expression that he knew Sally's face expressed.

"What did he do to get you so mad?" Sally asked, finding herself at a loss as to how any one could earn such ire from such a kind-hearted hedgehog. Sonic shrugged his shoulders, apparently unsure of the reason himself.

Sally contemplated for a minute then thought of something. "This wouldn't have anything to do with him beating you when you first met would it?"

Sonic turned his head, stunned. "No!" he shot out. He recoiled a little bit, surprised at his own response and thought about the possibility. "Well, maybe. There might be more to it though." Sonic said in a much more quiet voice. "While Tails was taking Slash on that tour I was kinda keeping an eye on them here and there before I left. And when Tails brought Slasher to that picnic I kinda freaked on him; called him a murderer and stuff."

"Is there something specific you don't like about him?"

"Well there is that stuff about him killing his enemies, but that's about it. Little stuff too, the way he acted, his attitude, that sort of thing."

"Why the change in feelings then?" Sally asked pushing him on.

"When you were fighting Scratch, Coconuts nearly killed me, but Slasher saved my life. When he was already injured too."

Sally nodded in apprehension. "So you're feeling guilty about treating him so unfairly." Sally then connected the pieces together with the snap of her fingers. "You're jealous…" she blurted out; pausing a moment, realizing what she had said.

"Me! Jealous! Never been jealous in my life!" Sonic replied without the slightest hint of modesty.

Sally folded her arms across her chest and raised her eyebrows, ready to prove him wrong. "Oh, and what about Geoffrey St. John?"

Sonic's proud shoulders dropped, his ego has been taking a serious pounding lately. "That's totally different Sal!" He protested in a loud voice.

"Hardly, you two are always fighting with each other and a lot of the time its over me. You're both jealous of each other." Sally raised her hand to her chin in thought. "He hurt your pride when he beat you before. Plus I think you didn't really like how much time Tails is spending with Slasher. By the way Tails was acting around Slasher I think you believed Tails had started idolizing him like he does you and you felt like you guys might end up drifting apart."

Sonic opened his mouth to say something, but he stopped himself, realizing that it made sense. "Sonic, you have to understand, Tails is your best friend, he's not going to stop being your friend no matter who he meets."

"I, guess your right Sal." Sonic admitted grudgingly. He felt pretty foolish to have beleived that he and Tails might be drifting apart. "Thanks." He stole a quick kiss on Sally's cheek and Sally blushed furiously.

"Your welcome Sonic, I kind of enjoyed getting to see your softer side." She stated, still blushing deeply. "But, I think it's Slasher who needs thanks. Not to mention an apology." Sally stood up behind Sonic and patted his shoulder sweetly. Sonic nodded and started to rise when Nicole started beeping. Sally flipped open the hand-held computer and read the text message displayed on the screen.

It read: "Slasher is coming around princess - Dr. Quack."

* * *

Meanwhile in the foul confines of Robotropolis…..

Snively paced back and forth in front of a large metal door, deeply disturbed by the news he knew he'd eventually have to rely. Taking a deep breathe Snively gathered what minuscule amounts of courage he possessed and walked towards the automatic door. Detecting his movement the doors whooshed aside allowing Snively entrance to the lab his uncle had stolen himself away to.

Snively could make out something on a worktable, but exactly what lay there was obscured by the large, oval shape of his overweight uncle. "Um, Master Robotnik sir," Snively shudder.

Robotnik whirled around, just realizing that Snively had entered the room and pulled a blanket over whatever he had been working on. "Yes, Snively." He asked, in an irritated, flustered voice.

"I-I-I have some bad news, Sir. We've lost contact with the 'Badniks. It would seem that they've (gulp)… been destroyed, Sir." He reported, his voice whimpering like a scared child, clearly afraid of what his uncle might do to him.

Instead of slapping his nephew silly as Snively expected, Robotnik instead, tugged on his moustache in thought. "Hmm… it would seem that I have underestimated the creatures fighting skills."

"Shall I send a repair team to retrieve them, Sir?" Snively asked, trying to lean around Robotnik's figure to get a glimpse of what Robotnik was working on.

"No, they've out lived their usefulness anyways. I want you to send a salvage team and bring back their memory cores." Robotnik stated in a surprisingly calm voice for someone who had just lost valuable pieces of equipment.

"Very good Sir." Snively saluted and turned to leave the room.

"Not just yet my minuscule minion." Robotnik uttered in a frighteningly sinister tone. Snively stopped dead in his tracks, sweat pouring down his face. Robotnik waddled right behind Snively, his arms fold behind his back. "What progress has been made on the crystal, Snively?"

Snively had been hoping his uncle wouldn't have asked, but now his uncle stood mere centimeters behind him and he expected an answer. "Umm, er… I'm afraid there hasn't been any, Sir."

(Eep!) Snively shrieked out loud when Robotnik grabbed Snively's shirt collar and lifted him off the ground like he were a feather. Robotnik raised him up so that he could now look straight into the dark eyes Robotnik totted. "WHAT!" he shouted furiously the wind from his shouting causeing the few hairs on Snively's head to fold against his skull from the rush of air.

"It's not my fault, Sir." Snively bellowed in fear. "The repair-bots are having difficulty installing the new generator, and we only have enough power from the back-up to power essential systems."

"Then you shall personally see to the generators installation and get this place back in working order, or else I'll throw you in the incinerators and you can power this facility with your burning corpse!" Robotnik shouted, throwing Snively out the door, hitting the opposite wall of the hallway.

Snively groaned as he picked himself of the floor and raced off to avoid anymore of Robotnik's wrath. Robotnik grinned evilly, _"I've always had a certain flare for motivating people."_ He chuckled wickedly to himself.

Robotnik turned back to the project that still lay underneath the blanket. Robotnik pondered for a few moments. "Hmmm… it would seem that new AI program still may not be enough to bring my new creation to its ultimate lethality."

Robotnik wandered over to the massive bank of computers present in the lab and started sifting through the files. "But what could I do to improve that?" Robotnik ran a search on combat and glanced through all the data he could find. "My, my, my, what's this?" Robotnik stated when he spotted a file he didn't recognize. The file name read: 'combat-trainingseceretservice.rsa.dmg'. Robotnik opened the file and instantly his smile broadened. "Well, well, well; and to think the answer lay within my own computer banks the whole time."

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bum bum bummmm...(more ominous music that seems ot come from nowhere)

(Gasp)Oh no, not that, anything but that… wait what was I talking about? Oh well, sit tight, I'll try to post the next chapter ASAP. But for now, I leave you to wonder just what Robotnik has planned. Mwah hah hah!... til next time! MWAH HAH HAH HAH HAH! (more manical laughing)


	17. Ch 17 Checking Up

Legal shit is on first page, blah blah blah, includes all chapters etc.

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At the request of one of the readers, and because I haven't updated in such a long time, here's a quick review of events up to ch 16…. Robotnik attempts an experiment with the Void (the same dimension he banished Sally's father too). But an accident occurs that caused a mysterious stranger called Slasher to appear in Robotnik's lab and is captured. During interrogation Robotnik steals a strange gem from Slasher, believing it to be a Chaos emerald.

While on a mission to uncover Robotnik's latest scheme Tails stubbles upon the entrapped Slasher and manages to rescue him and return him to Knothole. When Slasher awakes the next morning a violent brawl breaks out with both Sonic and Sally fighting Slasher. In the end Slasher reveals he is a guardian of some sort and has taken an oath of loyalty to royal families everywhere.

Robotnik discovers the gem he stole from Slasher to not be a Chaos Emerald, but that it does in fact have some strange powers of its own. Wanting to unlock that power for his own purposes Robotnik orders his 'Badniks to go out into the forest and recapture Slasher. A violent clash in sues with Sally, Sonic, Tails and Slasher eventually defeating the 'Badniks. However Slasher and Tails were injured in the fight. Sally now wishes to discover what makes this crystal so important to Robotnik and now plans to launch a dangerous mission into Robotropolis to retrieve it and simultaneously cripple a major factory.

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Sheesh, that's a lot of talking from me! Anyways…. Wow, I have to say I'm happy to see such an explosion of hits on my story since that bug whipped out the previous numbers, which by the way were originally in the 700 range! And now they're at the 150 mark! So thx for all the support from all you anonyms readers and a special thx to everyone who has sent in a reviews. Heh heh, and don't worry details on the crystals powers are coming up soon; along with plenty more action. But for now, on with the show………. (okay, so it's a story that you have to read, but you get the idea  )

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**A Visitor From Afar**

**Ch. 17 Checking Up

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**

Freedom Fighter headquarters…..

Sally held up Nicole and started reading the text message displayed on Nicole's screen. "C'mon Sonic, looks like Slasher's starting to wake up." Sally said as she rose from her seat. Sonic who had already started to try and read over her shoulders nodded and walked out of the War Room. Sally folded up Nicole and promtly followed him.

A familiar whirling sound caught her attention as she left the room and caused her to look to her left and spot Tails down the hall, flying towards her with a large white bandage wrapped tightly around his left thigh. "Tails, Dr. Quack told you to stay off your feet." She scolded, placing her fists on her hips.

"I am off my feet 'Aunt' Sally, see." He joked swaying his feet back and forth as they hung underneath his hovering body.

"Tails, you know what I mean. You should be resting and letting that leg heal." Sally replied in annoyance.

"Ah, but that's boring!" he whined.

"I know sweetie, but that's the only way for your leg to heal properly and…" Sally started to say.

"Chill out, Sal, he's tough." Sonic interrupted, placing his arm around his buddy's shoulder encouragingly. "He can handle a little scratch."

"Yea, like he said 'Aunt' Sally, I can handle it." Tails chimed in feeling encouraged by Sonic's faith in him. Truth be told, his leg felt extremely sore, hence why he had taken to flying around the village, but now he didn't want to disappoint Sonic so he pushed aside his discomfort.

"Don't encourage him Sonic." Sally warned waving her finger at the pair. The two exchange a glance and in unison present a 'sad-puppy' look to Sally. Sally tried to resist the adorable pair of faces, but it was no use. "Oh, alright!" She exclaimed, caving in. "C'mon, me and Sonic were heading over to check on Slasher anyways, so why don't you come with us; but right after that you go back to your hut and rest, understood!"

"Yes, Ma'am!" Tails saluted cheerfully, satisfied in squelching some more time away from the monotonous boredom of his bedroom.

"C'mon big guy, lets go. I'll race ya!" Sonic challenged and before Sally could get an objectionable word out the pair had jetted off, leaving Sally in a cloud of kicked up dust and gusting wind; the wind thoroughly messing up Sally's hair.

Sally stared down the hallway in annoyance and sighed. "Urgh, one of these days I'm going to stuff lead in their shoes!" she huffed in irritation as she put her hair back in order and chased after them.

* * *

Back in the Knothole infirmary….

Slasher opened his eyes slowly, this time intent on remaining awake. He sits up a little and rubs the back of his head, his fingers brushing the row of spikes that line the back of his neck. "Welcome back to the land of the living." A familiar voice greeted.

Slasher looked to the open window and spotted who had spoke to him. "Dulcy!" he replied in surprise. He didn't expect to see her here. "What are you doing here?"

"Saving your life it would seem." Dr. Quack answered for her as he strode into the room holding a clipboard in the crook of one arm.

"Huh?" was all Slasher could say in his confusion.

"See that red tube attached to your arm…" Dr. Quack explained pointing to the tube attached to his left arm. "You'll notice that tube is also attached to Dulcy's arm as well." As the doctor spoke Dulcy pointed to the tube to illustrate the doctor's point. "Simply put we're bsically transferring her blood to you. It's a lucky thing you two have a close blood match since your dragons or you would have surely died from blood loss."

Slasher felt amazed that Dulcy would be willing to do something like this for a complete stranger, especially one that hasn't exactly hit it off well with the locals. "Thank you Dulcy I..."

"Don't sweat it. It's no big deal; I'm happy I could help. I'd hate to see a dragon die; even if he is from another world." She cut him off with a warm grin.

Slasher felt extremely grateful for the generosity of the gentle dragon, he really did judge her too quickly before, and he felt real bad about it. "Dulcy, I…" Slasher didn't get to finish his apology before the door opened up.

"I almost beat you Sonic!" Tails blurted out, continuing their own conversation.

"Dream on lil' buddy." Sonic smirked waving his hand at waist height. "But ya know, you are getting faster; I'm actually having to try lately." He replied patting the smaller fox on the back.

With that Sonic spotted Slasher sitting upright in his bed, as well as Dulcy and Dr. Quack. "Hey, gang; hey Slash' how's the leg?" he asked greeting the stricken Guardian in a very different tone then he had previously greeted him at the picnic.

This took Slasher a bit by surprise. "Um… About as good as anyone with a hole in their leg could be I guess." He joked, rubbing the injured leg under the blankets. "I can tell you this much though… I'm getting sick and tired of waking up in this hospital bed." He grumbled swinging his legs over the side of the bed, revealing the large bandages covering his leg, in addition to the fresh ones covering the cuts on his upper body from earlier.

"Well I'm just glad we haven't had an exact repeat of last time you woke up here; we only just replaced the window." Sally sassed as she entered the room, throwing Slasher a cynical grin.

Slasher grinned sheepishly while Dulcy giggled loudly at his embarrassment. "Well, I'm still up for a fight if someone wants one." Slasher replied, hopping off the bed. Immediately a surge of pain coursed up from his leg. He groaned in pain, and his face well displayed his pain and discomfort, but despite it he fought to remain standing tall.

"Take it easy Lad, your leg needs time to heal properly." Dr. Quack advised, rushing over to forcefully push Slasher back down onto the bed.

"This is (Agh)… nothing, things like this never stopped me before." Slasher stated, waving off the doctors advisement. Dr. Quack placed a hand underneath his bill curiously; thinking about his behaviour.

"Maybe you won't listen to the good Doctor…" Sally stated as she leaned up against the door frame. "But I expect you'll to listen to me and rest." Slasher's shoulders slumped down indignantly. "You won't be any help to anyone with your leg injured like it is; you need to give it time to rest."

"Very well you're Highness." Slasher answered. His voice was sincere, but his tone defiantly resented it.

"Princess, may I have a word?" Dr. Quack interjected upon seeing Slasher's mood turn. Sally nodded and moved over to the far corner of the room with the doctor. "Sally, I know you mean well, but perhaps ordering him to stay put will do more harm then good."

"What?" Sally just barely managed to keep herself from shouting loudly enough for the others to hear. A quick glance back confirmed the others hadn't heard her and were too busy conversing with themselves. "What on Mobius do you mean by that, weren't you the one who said he needs to take things slow so his leg could heal?"

"Yes, but from what I've seen and what you've told me about him, he's led a very hard and very dangerous life." Dr. Quack explained.

"What do you mean?" Sally asked, not catching the doctors meaning.

"Well from what I've seen bandaging him up, he's got numerous scars all over his body. Far more then you'd normally expect. And by the looks of the scar tissue, it looks like he's suffered many serious injuries in combat, including several fractured bones; but despite that he's in remarkably good health. Judging by the story Dulcy has told me, I'd say he's never had the luxury of allowing his injuries to slow him down. And it seems to have made him stronger for it; you've seen how his injuries hardly phase him."

Sally thought on what the doctor said for a minute. "But, he still needs time to rest and recover."

"Agreed Princess, but I think you shouldn't try to order him to do so. Warrior's aren't used to being told what to do and nothing hurts a warriors pride more then being told what they **can't** do."

"Hmmm… maybe your right." Sally said, taking his advice to heart. She turned away from Dr. Quack and looked to see exactly what Dr. Quack had meant. Something seemed different about Slasher; the way he held his head and shoulder up proudly was no longer visible. "Slasher…" She said attempting to gain the Guardians attention. "Forget what I said before, go at your own pace, but just be careful, alright."

Instantly Slasher's whole face seemed to brighten up."I would recommend you get something to eat soon, Lad; your blood sugar and electrolyte levels are extremely low." Dr. Quack added absently as he looked over Slasher's medical charts.

"My what?" Slasher asked in regards to the strange terms.

"Never mind, it's almost dinner time so why don't Sonic and Tails take you back to their place and get something to eat." Sally remarked, changing the subject. As if to agree with Sally, Slasher's stomach growled loudly causing a few people to grin and giggle.

"Looks like it's unanimous." Sonic joked laughing with the others.

"Yah, I'm getting pretty hungry." Tails piped in, rubbing his growling tummy for emphasis.

Everyone filed out of the room, while Dr. Quack removed the transfusion equipment from Dulcy. Slasher rose out of the bed again and cringed in pain when he placed some weight on his wounded leg. Still, the warrior training in him tried, despite the pain to stand straight and proud. However, he was forced to relent as the pain became too much, causing him to remove the weight from his leg and favour the other leg.

"I can find you some crutches if you like; that leg will be awfully stiff and sore right now." Dr. Quack offered, waving good-bye to Dulcy as she pulled her head out the window and flew off.

"I'll be fine, I just have to…" Slasher dismissed the doctors offer and tried to take a step with his sore leg, but he found the same result. The pain was just too much.

"No one is going to think any less of you by admitting you're hurt." Dr. Quack argued, finding a cane in the corner of the room. "But maybe you'll fancy this instead."

Slasher groaned rubbing his sore leg gingerly and swallowing his pride took the cane and found it much easier to be able to walk already. This surprised Slasher a great deal. "Thanks, doctor." With that he hobbled his way out to the lobby, receiving more perplexed stares by on-lookers in the waiting room where Sonic, Sally and Tails were waiting for him.

"We need to discuss a few things Slasher, but we can talk after you have some dinner, alright?" Sally asked, folding her arms across her chest to indicate the seriousness of the topic.

"May ask what this is about?" Slasher asked, feeling a bit on the spot all of a sudden.

"We'll discuss it at the planning session tonight at seven, make sure you're there." And with that Sally walked out of the hospital, off to take care of other business around the village.

"C'mon, let's go get some chow." Tails said with his usual exuberance. Tails took to the air while Sonic trotted along beside him with Slasher hobbling along behind. For Slasher the trip back to their place felt like a gruellingly voyage. It made him wish he could fly like Tails, being able to fly and avoid walking on his own injury. When they finally arrived Slasher couldn't find a place to sit down fast enough.

"Oohh… this leg is killing me. That short little walk felt like a mile hike." Slasher complained rubbing the bandage sorely.

"Just relax we'll find you something to eat." Tails replied, already kneeling on the counter top, rummaging through the food in the upper cupboards.

"Tails, I've got just the thing." Sonic stated with a gleam in his eye. A few minutes and dirty pots later Sonic placed a plate of steaming hot chilli dogs before Slasher. Tails groaned in an annoyed, sarcastic way. It seemed like tradition for Sonic, as soon as he meet someone new, he just had to treat them to his all time favourite snack. Tails didn't mind though, he liked them as much as Sonic did, but he enjoyed having others things just as much.

Slasher stared at the unusual looking food before him. "Um, what is this?" he asked, sounding like a lost kid in the mall.

"The food o' the 'hogs." He announced proudly. Seeing Slasher's lack of any response, other then a raised eyebrow Sonic figured he should call them by their proper name. "They're chilli dogs. And they taste great." He said, taking one and taking a big bite out of it.

"These are dogs? He asked sticking his tongue out in revulsion.

"Nah, that's just a name for 'em, and before you even make a wise crack about the chilli part, that's what the meat on top is called." Adding that last part with a stout grin; obviously more then one person had made that remark.

Well, Slasher was hungry, and the smell of the food did entice his nose in a most curious way, why not? Slasher took a hold of one of the meaty hotdogs just as Tails was making a move for his second. He tentatively took a small bite and chewed. His eyes bulged at how good it tasted. "MMmmm…" was all Slasher could say as he quickly devoured the remainder of the chilli dog.

"Hey, slow down, ya don't wanna get an upset stomach." Sonic shouted as he watched Slasher dig into a second one.

"Sorry, I guess I must be pretty hungry." Slasher muttered after he finsihed swallowing the second chilli dog.

"No problemo, but even being as hungry as you are there's now way you can top my record." Sonic boasted tauntingly.

"Is that a challenge…" Slasher stood; a grinning broadly as he called Sonic's boast. "I must warn you, I'm plenty famished."

"Oh no…" Tails groaned, hiding his face with his hand.

Sonic grabbed a chilli dog and stuffed it into his mouth, managing to fit the entire thing into his gaping jaw, his cheeks puckering out a great deal to accommodate the chilli dog. With some effort on his part, Sonic managed to chew and swallow the chilli dog. "Top that!"

Slasher smiled and grabbed a chilli dog of his own. He opened his massive jaw as wide as he could and placed the entire length of the chilli dog on his tongue, then, snapped his mouth shut, chewed a few times and the chilli dog was gone.

Sonic and Tails' eye's widened in surprise. "Sonic, I think we have a contender here." Tails stated, suddenly gaining an interest in this little competition.

"I have not yet begun to gorge." Sonic joked, grabbing another chilli dog and preparing himself to devour it. Outside the hut one could hear the two devouring the chilli dogs as fast as they could, leaving one passer-by perplexed as to what was making such noise.

* * *

End Ch. 17

Tee hee I had to throw that last bit in. anyways don't worry, things will heat up real soon. thx again to the people who sent my two latest reviews and I hve to say I'm truly sorry about taking so darn long to update, BUT I DO HAVE A LIFE! Ahem… anyways thx again and I hope to have the next ch up ASAP.


	18. Ch 18 What, more Questions

Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any and all affiliated characters. They are owned by Sega (Though it might be Nintendo now) and Archie Comics, all objects and items related to Sonic the Hedgehog, are their property, and claim no responsibility for the content of this fan-made story. The plot of this story alone, and any characters introduced by the author that have not made an appearance in either the comic series or video game series are owned by the author and should not be duplicated by others without the written permission of the author. (why didn't i think of cutting and pasting the orginal disclaimer in the fist place!)

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Damn it! That glitch has reset my hits again! This keeps up I'm always going to have more reviews then hits. Anyway, here we go folks the last plot chapter before the action starts up again.

* * *

**A Visitor From Afar**

**Ch. 18 Questions and Answers

* * *

**

Sitting before his computer screen Robotnik chuckled wickedly to himself as he finished uploading the file he had recently located onto a computer chip. "I must thank you King Acorn. Amazing that after all this time, I never once thought to take the time to see what information you and your cohorts stored in these old royal files. I had no idea that when I took over this dump that the fool's data might actually come in handy."

"With something like this floating about, I wonder what else that old fool might have left in these old files." Robotnik added, switching the monitor back to the files he had been examining before. "Hmmm… fairly mundane stuff." Robotnik moped a little in disappointment. "Royal decrees, foreign policies, royal affiliates… wait; what do we have here?" Robotnik stopped, his eyes bulging as his eyes scanned through the long list. The file that had gained his interest so suddenly was labelled: floatingisland.geosurv/rf.cl.doc. Opening the file Robotnik couldn't believe what he saw.

"What irony! All those times I attacked the Floating Island to steal its Chaos Emerald I ended up being defeat because took too long to locate them and all this time I had complete geological survey of the entire island in the King's records!" Robotnik growled in annoyance. "Bah, I'll back up this data somewhere else till I figure out what to do with it." He grumbled in frustration.

Just then Snively entered the room, flanked by several hovering robots with rectangular shaped trays on their fronts. Inside the trays lay various miscellaneous robotics parts. "Sir, the Salvage-bots have retrieved the 'Badnik's memory cores as you ordered, Sir."

"Excellent, have the Salvage-bots place them on that lab station and ready for data extraction." Robotnik chortled, turning around to watch the Salvage-bots do as ordered.

"Just one small problem Sir, we were unable to retrieve the memory cores for Orbinaut because of the level of damage."

"What?" Robotnik asked, his eyes growing in surprise.

"All we found of him was a smouldering mass of metal, by the looks of it he got destroyed by a massive blast of heat." Snively explained.

Robotnik found himself at a loss of words. _"The Freedom Fighters don't carry weapons of such destructive power as far as I know. Not to mention Orbinaut's armour could withstand very high temperatures, so what could have done something like that short of high explosive ordnance?"_

"I'll begin downloading the data from the memory drives now, Sir." Snively stated, interrupting Robotnik's thoughts.

"Yes, this new development might prove to be quite a nuisance." Robotnik agreed turning back to Snively to continue his own work. Snively finished hooking up the memory cores and activated the data transfer, a task that took him very little time at all. With nothing to do while the data transferred to the main computer for analyse Snively took a quick glance at the data scrolling across the Robotnik's monitor.

The file appeared unfamiliar to him and curiosity soon got the better of him. "Dr. Robotnik, sir, what are you looking at?" he asked, hoping it wasn't something Robotnik didn't want him to see.

Surprisingly Robotnik showed no signs of irritation at the question, saying: "It would seem the king's Secret Service had a file here which contains a detailed combat training program. These files hold every technique and fighting style they've ever trained in. Comparing these fighting styles with my own combat protocols, it's easy to see just how slow and clumsy my robot's combat systems are. I've already designed a new combat routine into this disk; I want it installed in the new version of Swat-bots coming out." Robotnik stated holding out the data card to one of the Salvage-bots.

Turning back to Snively Robotnik continued his explanation. "Of course, I can only use a small portion of this data; there's far too much data here for me to be able to use in all of my metal minions, but it will be no trouble for my latest creation." He admitted, taking a proud glance over to the secret project still under wraps. And when it comes online, those Freedom Fighters will be helpless against it!"

* * *

Back in Freedom Fighter headquarters….

"Ooohhh! I can't believe I let myself eat so many of those Chilli dogs!" Slasher groaned as he, Tails and Sonic walked towards the War Room. Both Sonic and Slasher's belly's seemed a little larger then usual; a testament to just how many the two of them had indeed eaten. Slasher still limped a little as he walked, but it seemed he'd managed to loosen the stiff muscles enough for him to walk without the cane, or, at least he insisted he didn't still need it.

"Man, that was awesome; I haven't had an eating challenge like that in years." Sonic added rubbing his plumb tummy.

"Yeah…" Tails chuckled. "The last one to try was Rotor, and he hasn't eaten a chilli dog since."

"We'd better hurry up though or we'll be late." Sonic stated glancing at his wristwatch.

The door opened to the War Room where Sally and the others were already gathered waiting for the mission briefing. Sonic and Tails entered and quickly took their usual seats. Slasher made a small, courteous bow in the Princess's general direction when he entered and took an open seat at the foot of the table.

Sally nodded in acknowledgement of Slasher's bow. Once the late comers took their seats Sally stood up to signal the start of the meeting. "Alright, Slasher, I imagine you're still wondering why I asked you to come to this mission briefing right."

Slasher nodded yes. "Normally only those directly involved in the mission are allowed into these meetings, but in this case it does involve you. We plan on trying to retrieve your crystal tonight, but first we want to know some more about it. Is that alright?" Sally asked, trying not to sound overbearing.

Slasher nodded. "What would you like to know?"

"For instance, when Tails rescued you, he said you transformed when you touched the crystal, is this true?" she questioned, sitting down in her seat.

"Yes, it is true. The jewel is an ancient, magical artifact called the Ruby of Evolution. It grants the bearer the ability to evolve and mature in the blink of an eye. When Tails found me I was actually an adult, but an evolved version of my species." Slasher explained. "If I was to grow up naturally I'm betting I'd look a lot like I do now."

"But what about all that armour you were wearing and stuff?" Tails asked.

"To be honest, I don't know." He shrugged, at a loss for an answer. "From what the legends surrounding the jewel suggest, the jewel itself creates whatevr armour and weapons we need to fulfil the prophecy." Slasher answered sounding almost unconvinced himself.

"That would explain why you couldn't find any signs of workmanships on Slasher's armband Rotor." Tails said thoughtfully.

"Ah c'mon, you don't really believe that some jewel can do that do you, it's just not scientifically possible." Rotor shook his head in doubt. "I mean, evolving, aging creating something out of nothing, it just can't be done!"

"We've seen stranger things Rotor." Bunnie reminded him. "There's plenty a' strange things out there we don't understand."

"Good point, Bunnie; plenty of strange things have happened before, so this may not be too much of a stretch." Sally reminisced thoughtfully. Sally thought for a moment, something didn't add up, aside from creating weapons, it didn't really sound like this crystal could do anything that Robotnik would care for. "Is there anything else the crystal does that Robotnik might want the gem for?" Sally asked looking down the table to Slasher.

Slasher hesitated a several minutes and finally shook his head no.

Sally wasn't sure if Slasher hesitated because he had to think about it or because he wasn't telling them something, but she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt for now so they could proceed with their task. "Fine, alright everyone, the target for tonight is one of Robotnik's Swat-bot factories. Bunnie, Antoine and Rotor are going to hit there while me and Sonic sneak into Robotnik's fortress and recover this jewel of yours Slasher."

"What about me!" Tails whined.

"You're staying here and keeping an eye on Slasher, you both need time to rest and heal." Sally replied sternly.

"Ah man!" Tails grumbled crossing his arms as he slumped back into his chair.

"Your highness, I object!" Slasher protested as he stood up. "The Ruby was entrusted to me; I won't have others risk their lives retrieving something that is my responsibility."

Sally sighed loudly. "Slasher, you don't have a choice, you're wounded, you can't expect yourself to be able to fight like you are; you're barely able to walk!"

"Princess I…"

"Do as ze Preencess commands, you nave!" Antoine warned harshly. Slasher scowled fiercely at the obstinate coyote. Antoine flinched slightly under the harsh glare.

"Antoine, that's enough." Sally said harshly. "Slasher, Tails, I need to go over the details with the others, I'm afraid you can't stay here."

Slasher rose, visibly still angry and left without a word. Tails got up and waved good-bye and followed Slasher out the door and closed it behind him.

Sonic glared at Antoine and scowled at him angrily. "Real smooth 'Twan."

* * *

Outside the War Room…

Tails rushed outside the War Room to catch up with Slasher and quickly spotted him limping his way down the tunnel that led to the training center. "Hey, Slasher wait up!" Tails shouted; twirling his tails he lifted his body off the ground and flew off to catch up.

Tails quickly caught up, but Slasher didn't take any notice. "Where are you going?" he asked, flying just behind him.

"To blow off some steam." He grumbled angrily.

"Ah, come on Slasher don't listen to Antoine. He wrote the book on snobs." Tails said trying to calm Slasher down.

"I'll see you back at the hut." He replied crossly, ignoring Tails' advice. Tails stopped chasing after Slasher and hovered, watching Slasher hobble away. Tails took the hint he wanted to be alone, so he took another tunnel and headed back to his hut, feeling depressed to see Slasher like this, not to mention a little angry at Antoine.

Tails flew down the passageway, thinking absent-mindedly about the meeting. He soon reached the door way outside and opened it, feeling the cool night breeze blow across his fur. He felt his tails going tired so he set down and tried to walk through the rows of huts towards his own. His leg started to feel sore, but Tails pressed on, knowing his hut was near.

"_Chosen one…"_ Called a faint, hollow voice.

Tails turned around "Hello, is someone there?" he asked, his eyes straining to adjust from the bright tunnel to the darkness, but he could see nothing. Tails shrugged and chalked it up to the wind and his imagination. He continued on and stepped onto the doorstep of his hut.

Just as he turned the knob and the door started to swing open, the wind picked up barley masking the strange voice that called out again, slightly louder. _"Choosen onnneee…"_ slower it spoke this time, trying to hide its presence in the gust of wind.

"Who's there?" he asked, whirling around. Again nothing but silence as the wind died away immediately. _"This is getting weird." _Tails thought, entering the hut. "Maybe I need to take a nap, I must be imagining things." Tails shook his head in dismay.

Tails entered his room and lay down on the bed, resting his head on the pillow, not bothering to wrap himself up in the blankets. He closed his eyes, taking one last glance to see if those voices would start up again, but they never did, so he shut his and sleep fell upon him unusually fast.

* * *

Dream sequence….

He found himself in a familiar dream, a happy dream. Tails sat within the cockpit of the Tornado, flying it aimlessly across a vast blue sky, a lush forest below. The euphoria Tails felt was exhilarating, he always loved flying.

_He flew for what felt like hours, performing various aerial manoeuvres. "Chosen one…" _the strange voice called again, barley audible over the motor, but it was there for sure.

"Huh?"

Suddenly the voice exploded into many voices all saying the same two words at various volumes, but all as mysterious as the next, overpowering the noise of the motor. _"Chosen one-chosen one-CHOSEN ONE!" _The voices became so loud that Tails needed to cover his ears. The instant he let go of the joystick, the Tornado suddenly dissolved right out from under him. He fell continuously for what felt like hours, when he finally fell on some hard rock.

Tails looked around in bewilderment. The sky and land he saw in his dream before were completely gone. In its place Tails saw he seemed to be now standing on an asteroid drifting in space. Somehow this all seemed vaguely familiar to Tails.

_"Greetings, Chosen one…"_ that strange voice called again.

Tails whirled around and this time he saw exactly who had spoken to him. Drifting a short distance away from his asteroid he could see three massive glowing tribal masks. The one of the left looked like a grey, pointed oval with yellow straw attached to the edges and small black eye slits. The right-side one looked like a skull with pointed brown stripes emanating from the edges. The center mask, one that overshadowed the other two, looked like a bird on a totem pole it beak yellow and the head painted a bright orange. The masks hovered mysteriously and glowed with an eerie light in the darkness. Tails instantly recognized the masks. Tails hadn't seen the divine, omniscient beings since his solo adventure in downunda way back when. "The Ancient Walkers!" he gasped.

"_Yes, chosen one."_ The three masks answered in one voice, just as mysteriously as ever.

"What are you doing in my dream?" Tails asked.

"_We are here for you... Entering your dreams is the simplest way we can contact you and we have great need of your skills. The cosmic balance has been up-hurled and **you** must return the balance."_ Spoke the fur-lined masked in a rough and scratchy voice.

"What? How? What do you mean?"

"_Someone of great importance has been misplaced."_ The skull mask spoke out.

"Huh? Who?" Tails asked, wishing the Ancient Walkers would stop talking in riddles.

"_You know of whom we speak."_ All three spoke at once, their voices resonating in the darkness.

Tails paused a moment, trying to think who they could mean. "Who? Slasher?"

_"Indeed, the guardian's home is not on Mobius, he must be returned to where he belongs."_

"I don't understand. How do you even know about him?" Tails confessed.

_"We see many things across the vastness of the universe, and through that we have seen many worlds. The guardian you have befriended is not of your world, but of another, and he plays a crucial role in the future of his home world. He and his companions wage a desperate fight against powerful enemies and he must be there to face the threat. His world's fate is mired in uncertainty and without him to lead his companions his world will fall to chaos and all will be lost. But worse yet, if he remains upon Mobius **hundreds** of worlds will fall to Dr. Robotnik's evil might." _ The Ancient Walkers said, their words echoing the warning they spoke.

"How can one person be so important?" Tails asked in astonishment at the dark prospects.

_"It is much as if you; or any of your friends were to suddenly be removed from the daily events. The Guardian's arrival here is an unexpected accident, and you must set things right."_

"But Sonic has disappeared before, and we've always managed to make due until he came back." Tails argued.

"_True, but your fates are not as directly tied to each other as Slasher is with his companions."_

"What do you mean 'their fates are tied to each other'?"

"_The companions the Guardian travel's with each bear a crystal of their own. Each commanding the power of the elements: earth, wind, fire, water, lightning. And each lends the others its strengths."_

"You mean Slasher can control lighting, or water!" Tails exclaimed in surprise.

"_No, such extreme manipulations can only be performed by those who bear an elemental crystal. But they do lend out other abilities that strengthen one another. The jewel the Guardian bear's allows him to mature and evolve, that ability can also be tapped by the ones who bear the elemental crystals. They need this power in order to become stronger and more capable of confronting the greater dangers that await them."_

Tails placed his right hand under his chin, thinking out loud. "So, without Slasher's ruby, his friends can't evolve. And if they can't evolve…"

"_They will be overwhelmed by the enemy they struggle against. Your insight is most encouraging, young one. The Guardians gem was forged using the combined powers of all the elements and as such shares the same bond the elemental crystals have with each other. Without the Guardian's leadership and the power of his crystal, his companions are doomed to a gruesome death."_

"But there must be someone better for this then me." Tails objected, feeling the massive weight of responsibility fall upon his shoulders.

_"No. Such is your fate and duty as the Chosen One; to undertake missions of monumental importance. But do not fear; we know you have the strength within to master the challenges ahead."_

"But how do I send Slasher back home when I don't where he came from or how he got here in the first place." Tails asked helplessly.

"_The crystal is the key; you **must** help the guardian reclaim it."_

"What? I can't! 'Aunt' Sally told me I couldn't go; and besides, my leg is hurt, there's no way I can go on a mission now.!" Tails exclaimed in surprise.

"_Fear not, for when the time comes, you will be ready to face the challenge." _The Ancient Walkers said as they began to fade away like spectres into the darkness.

"Huh? What do you mean? When will that be?" he shouted out to the vanishing masks, but no answer in reply.

* * *

"Tails wake up! I need your help" Slasher said shaking Tails roughly.

"Uh, wha?" Tails mumbled; awaking with a start to see Slasher hunched over with a look of determination on his face.

"I'm going after the crystal. And I need your help" he said flatly.

"Huh!" The shock of the explanation shook the sleep from Tail's eyes and he instantly rose out of the bed. Then it occurred to him that he had stood up without any pain at all. Tails looked down at his leg and saw the gash on his leg was gone; even the bandages he knew had been there before.

Suddenly the words the Ancient Walkers had spoken echoed in his mind. _"When the time comes, you **will** be ready to face the challenges ahead."_ Tails looked at Slasher with a hint of shock in his eyes; the Ancient Walkers prophecy came true, it was time. His expression hardened with the same look of determination as Slasher and nodded in his head. "Let's do it!"

* * *

WOOT! That time it only took me three chapters to set up the next action sequence! Next chapter… "Mission: Very close to near Impossible" oh! I just can't wait, send in those reviews please! Oh and by the way, anyone who isn't familiar with the Ancient Walkers, they're from the comic series, and like I said in the disclaimers they are not my property, so don't start throwing things at me Archie Comics, alright! 


	19. Ch 19 The Mission

Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any and all affiliated characters. They are owned by Sega (Though it might be Nintendo now) and Archie Comics, all objects and items related to Sonic the Hedgehog, are their property, and claim no responsibility for the content of this fan-made story. The plot of this story alone, and any characters introduced by the author that have not made an appearance in either the comic series or video game series are owned by the author and should not be duplicated by others without the written permission of the author.

* * *

Sorry for how long it took to update, things get hecktic when the holiday's role around, but hopefully I'll get some free time soon to work on the new chapters.

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A Visitor From Afar

Ch. 19 

Mission: Really, close to near Impossible

* * *

Robotropolis, even the street lights of this wretched city reflect the dull and run-down state plainly visible. And because of the streets cast eerily frightening shadows in every direction. But if the Swat-bots any brains whatsoever, they surely would have noticed a shadow duck back into an alleyway. The Swat-bots continued on without a second's glance, following their pre-programmed patrol route. One silhouetted figure bolts across the street, sticking to the shadows cast by the dim, street lamp, quickly followed by another, wider-built silhouette, then another. The three figures double check around the corner of the alley to make sure they had not been spotted. Content they haven't, they move on; proceeding stealthily down the narrow alleyway.

Suddenly there is a loud crash behind the group, the lead two figures spin around and in unison shout in hushed voices: "ANTOINE!"

Lying indignantly on top of an overturned trash can, lay the coyote; a banana peel sitting atop his toupee'. "Heh, heh, sorry mes amies." He apologized, as Bunnie walked over to him and helped to his feet.

"I swear Sugar 'Twan, ya'll gotta be more careful." Bunnie advised. "Unless ya'll wanna get turned inta a bot."

"Oui, Oui, I shall try to be less how you say: clumpy, Madame Bunnie." Antoine blabbered out, trying calm his frazzled nerves.

"We're almost there, c'mon." Rotor urged, continuing on. Antoine ran after him with Bunnie watching the rear. Soon the trio reached the entrance of an old brick building. Rotor reached for the door knob and tried to turn it, but to no avail. 'Ergh, locked." Rotor grunted in annoyance.

"Leave it me Sugar." Bunnie interjected, gently directing Rotor aside with her real hand. She outstretched her mechanical hand and clamped her hand tightly around the knob, then using what would appear like no effort at all, pulled the whole door right off its hinges.

"Remind me not to catch you on your bad side." Rotor joked as Bunnie placed the door against the wall.

Bunnie returned a warm smile and beckoned the boys inside. "After ya'll."

"Ladies first, mademoiselle." Antoine insisted.

"Well, aren't you the sweetest thang." Bunnie cooed as she obligingly entered first. Rotor simply rolled his eyes and smiled as Antoine went inside, looking much more confident all of a sudden.

"So far, so good. Let's just hope Sonic and Sally are doing this well." Rotor mentioned as he crossed the room they had entered. "Now, we just need to find the roof access and wait for Sally's signal."

* * *

Meanwhile, in another part of Robotropolis….

Sonic raced through the open street with Sally in hand, suddenly a hover unit rounded a corner up ahead. Instantly Sonic stopped dead in his tracks and dove for the nearest cover. The hover unit passed overhead, oblivious to the hiding animals.

"That's another close call Sonic, take it easy." Sally warned the blue hedgehog lying beside her.

"Relax Sal, you're in good hands." Sonic scoffed dismissing his recklessness.

"Well, just remember we still have mission to complete here Sonic, so let's not get Robotnik's attention until we want it." She cautioned taking a peek over their hiding spot. "There!" Sally exclaimed, pointing to a small metal box sitting on the outer wall of the building across the street. Checking first to insure the coast is clear; Sally jumps out from cover and makes a dash for the box.

Just as she reaches the box, Sonic suddenly materializes next to it, resting his elbow on it in disinterest. "This?" He exclaims in surprise. "What do you want with this hunk 'o junk?"

"Weren't you paying any attention at the meeting, Sonic?" Sally asked in dismay as she shooed Sonic away from the box so she could pry it open.

"Just the good parts." Sonic answered chidingly.

"This… erg… box contains the security alarms for this facility." Sally grunted as she forced the box open.

"I get it, we're going to disable the alarms right?" Sonic snapped his finger's as he caught on.

"Nope, there are fails safes that will sound the alarms if we try to disable them." Sally stated, finally managing to pop the box open.

"We're not? How come? Isn't this the factory we're hitting tonight?" Sonic asked, scratching his head.

"Nope."

"Then what are we doing here?" Sonic asked, becoming irritated from not getting a straight answer out of Sally.

"Getting Robotnik's attention." She answered simply as she pulled out Nicole.

"I thought you just said you didn't want Robotnik's attention." Sonic said in exasperation.

"Yes, but when we want it." Sally replied, rather enjoying leading Sonic on like this.

"And just how are we going to do that?" Sonic asked, becoming more and more lost.

"By tripping the alarms." Sally replied as if it were nothing.

"Say wha… ?" Sonic mumbled in bafflement.

"These alarms are tied to Robotnik's main computers, so with Nicole's help, I can create several phantom break-in's. And while the Swat-bots are off on a wild goose chase, we'll make our move." Sally replied with a smug grin. "Okay Nicole, you're on, and remember: be as sloppy as possible, but don't leave any traces."

"Understood Princess." Nicole chimed, switching her monitor to display a map of Robotropolis. "These locations will be activated on your command, Princess." Nicole reported as several blips appeared, indicating which locations would be affected.

"Alright, Sonic, I'm done here. Let's go." Sally stated, unplugging Nicole from the system and closing the security box.

"Okay, but, can you explain all that for me one more time." Sonic replied, as Sally hopped into his arms.

Sally giggled and shook her head. "Alright, just for you." Sonic grinned back and took off down the street.

* * *

Meanwhile back in the Great Forest….

The darkness of the still night is only broken by the sounds of footsteps as two figures make their way through the thick underbrush. Tails was having no trouble walking now, thanks to the Ancient Walkers assistance. Unlike Slasher, who still walked with a limp, though it seemed he'd managed to loosen up the stiff muscles enough to walk a little easier.

Even though Tails knows he must focus on the mission ahead, some of the things the Ancient Walkers had mentioned still nagged at the back of his mind. It would take time to reach Robotropolis at the pace they were currently moving at; so Tails thought, maybe this would be a good time to ask, if only to pass the time. But Slasher broke the silence first.

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Slasher asked as he bushed an overhanging branch aside.

Tails took a few sniffs of the air and nods his head in reply. "Yeah, I can still smell Antoine's cologne. They went this way." He added, pointing further ahead.

"You must have a very good nose, I can't smell a thing."

"Comes with the fox suit." Tails joked.

"Heh heh, guess it would." Slasher replied, feeling much better with the mood lightened some what.

Tails thought maybe this would be a good time to ask about what the Ancient Walkers mentioned. But no, asking directly might silence him. He decided to try lead the conversation there. "Hey, Slash'." Tails asked, using Sonic's nickname. "After the fight with the 'Badniks we inspected the wreckage and noticed that Orbinaut's armour looked melted, did you use your fire breath on him?" he asked, trying to make conversation with something not so sensitive a subject.

"(Sigh) I hate to admit it, but yes; to my shame…" he admitted begrudgingly.

"To your… what do you mean? If your fire breathe can do that much damage, why didn't you use it on the 'Badniks when we were first attacked?" Tails tilted his head in puzzlement, he hadn't expected that response.

"You don't understand…" Slasher shook his head in frustration. "To us Guardians, it's dishonourably to use your fire breathe as a weapon."

"But Dulcy…?"

"Dulcy and I might look the same, but our differences are worlds apart." Slasher explained. Tails stared blankly at Slasher as they walked together. Slasher saw he needed to find another way to explain this. "Remember that story I told you before, about my kind's origin's and the violent dragons?" Tails nodded his head. "My kind felt that the use of such natural gifts by the original dragons to be barbaric and uncivilized. And so, we wanted to disassociate ourselves from our more barbaric roots."

"Barbaric?"

"Have you ever seen someone burned to death? Have you ever heard the agonizing, screams of someone ablaze; knowing that even if we do manage to put the flames out in time; they'll forever live with constant pain and dreadful scars? It's a gruesome, gruesome way to die… We Guardians don't wish that on any living soul… not even our worst enemies." Slasher stated with conviction.

Tails felt a chill run down his spin at the images Slasher portrayed with his words. "I guess I never thought about it like that before…" Tails admitted, shaking the thoughts from his head. "But you know, robots don't really have a soul, they don't even feel pain. Their just machines, it's not like you're killing a real person." Tails added trying to show Slasher another perspective on things.

"It's the principal of the matter. And personally I don't want to face the dishonour of going against nearly eight thousand years of custom and tradition." Slasher replied, his voice rising a little.

Tails couldn't help but notice something familiar with that reasoning, but he decided it best to drop it for now. Tails stopped and took another quick sniff of the air. "Phew… yep, we're going the right way, not only is Antoine's scent getting stronger, but I can also smell Robotropolis. Once we reach the city I can get us to Robotnik's headquarters, I'm sure that's where he's keeping your crystal."

"Alright, lead on…" Slasher urged, trusting in Tails' experience.

* * *

Robotnik's headquarters….

The doors to Robotnik's lab swoosh open, revealing a very greasy, very tired Snively entering the room. His clothes are spotted in several places by globs of oil and grease, but through the grime one could see a self-satisfied smile under his pointed nose. "Sir, the main generators are back online and operating at full capacity, sir." He reported happily.

"Excellent Snively, prepare the high powered scanners and ready that crystal for a full scan, I want to know every minuscule detail of that crystal in every possible way, including energy levels." Robotnik bellowed, not even bothering to look away from the work that lay before him.

"Right away, Sir, I'll have the crystal moved to the scanning room immediately, Sir." Snively saluted. "Do you wish to observe the examination, Sir?" he added as an after-thought, just as he started to turn to leave.

"Yes, I think it would be good to leave my latest project for a while…" Robotnik conceded with a disappointed sigh. "Besides, I wish to make sure you don't screw up." He added, giving Snively a cold stare that would make a ghost faint.

Snively instantly regretted making the offer. "(Gulp) Y-Y-Yes, s-s-sir." He shuddered under the icy stare. Robotnik walked past the trembling lackey and passed through the automatic doors. Snively quickly followed, before the doors began to close.

"Computer, lock down lab 0-1-4. Voice-lock to my voice only; command code: Zepher" Robotnik ordered. Instantly the muffled sounds of very heavy locking mechanisms could be heard closing and locking tightly. "No sense leaving the lab accessible to those I don't wish to view my latest weapon." Robotnik explained to Snively with a cruel chuckle.

"Just what is it you're working on Dr. Robotnik?" Snively asked, following behind the evil dictator.

"Ah, ah, ah, Snively. Not yet, you won't get to see my new creation until, **after** it's ready." Robotnik warned, waving his finger over his shoulder so Snively could easily see it.

"So does this new project have anything to do with why you wanted the Badnik's memory cores?" Snively asked, hoping he might get a straight answer this time.

"Yes, know thy enemies, I believe the phrase goes." Robotnik chuckled.

A short walk later and Robotnik and Snively entered the large observation and scanning room. On one side of the room sat a large cylindrical shaped scanning device. A clear glass cylinder rested between the large metal components with a dozen or more intricate instruments above and below the glass portion.

Robotnik and Snively moved behind the control console and quickly flashed their fingers across the buttons, bringing the large, complex machine to life. As they did so a Salvage-bot entered, carrying the ruby crystal in tow. The gravity fields activated inside the chamber and the Salvage-bot nimbly placed the crystal inside the chamber, as the glass tube hissed down around the machines.

"Beginning scan now, Sir." Snively reported. _"Excellent, soon all this gems secrets will be mine…"_ Robotnik thought as the eerie lights activated within the chamber, the faceted gem casting glittering lights across the room.

End Ch. 19

* * *

Uh oh, what's going to happen now, will Robotnik learn the extents of the crystals' powers, will the mission go off without a hitch, Tails and Slasher get there in time to help, will Sonic ever get his head around Sally's plan, is the author going to shut up... (Slap) okay back to normal sit tight the actions just heating up.

* * *


	20. Ch 20 The Best Laid Plans

As far as the banana in the trash can goes, Ri2… comedic licence, and besides Snively and Robotnik gotta eat… and do you have any idea how much Robo must eat to be that fat? ; ) Well, I must say I'm absolutely thrilled to finally be able to say I have more reviews then chapters finally. thx to everyone who has sent in a post, and please keep them coming. Oh, and just before you get started on this chapter I'm going to warn you right now, it's a pretty long one, so you might want to find some popcorn or something and get comfy…

* * *

**A Visitor From Afar**

**Ch. 20 The Best Laid Plans

* * *

**

By now Tails and Slasher have reached the barren wastelands that lie between Robotropolis and the Great Forest. With lack of anything else to do, Tails' mind began wnadering back on the mission briefing. He felt curious as to why Slasher didn't mention the kind of powers those other crystals the Ancient Walkers mentioned endowed upon Slasher's own crystal when Sally had asked. But he didn't want to ask him directly and possibly offend him; Slasher might not be willing to answer any further questions after that.

"Hey Slasher, why do you call yourselves the Elite's?" he asked, trying to lead him into conversation discretely and gauge whether he might be lying or not.

Slasher glanced back at Tails, a little surprised by the question's topic. "Well, most of my friends may not have the special training that I do, but we're still a tough group of warriors. We just became known as the Elite's when word spread about us; we never gave ourselves that name." He answered a little hesitantly.

"But your friends don't have any special powers like you, do they?" Tails asked, probing farther.

"Huh… No, why do you ask?" Slasher asked, starting wonder what Tails is getting at with this.

Now Tails knew Slasher was lying, but his reasons for it just didn't seem to add up. Slasher was starting to become suspicious, so Tails figured he might as well just get out with it. "Slasher, I know you're lying to me…"

Slasher stopped dead in his tracks, stunned. "What?"

"I know you're friends have their own crystals and that they have powers too; I also know that your powers are linked somehow." He explained looking directly into Slasher's crimson eyes with conviction.

"How did you…" he stammered in shock. After a long pause he inhaled deeply letting out a long sigh of defeat. "I don't know how you could possibly know all that, but I guess it doesn't really matter... does it?"

"Why didn't you tell us before?" Tails asked; his tone and expression softening. "Just what else is that crystal capable of?"

"I… I can't tell you that." Slasher answered lowering his head to look away from Tails' face.

"Can't, or won't?" Tails continued, folding his arms across his chest.

"Look, do you go around telling everyone **your** secrets!" Slasher retaliated angrily.

"Friends don't keep secrets from one another…" Tails countered, his angry scowl never faultering.

"You want to know why I didn't tell you, alright fine." Slasher huffed, becoming fed up with the kit's persistence. "If everyone knew everything that me and my friends are capable of, you can figure out what we **can't **do. And if you figure out what we can't do, you can determine what our weakness's are and exploit them. The fewer the people that don't know what we're capable of, the less likely our enemies might learn what our weaknesses are. And as long as our enemies don't know what limits we have, we have an advantage in battle; they won't know what to expect from us and therefore we hold a crucial piece of the battle in our hands... I'm not telling you because I'm being stubborn or for some personal gain; I'm trying to protect my friends and more importantly, protect the security of my mission."

What Slasher said made sense, satisfying at least part of what Tails wanted to know at least, and judging by Slasher's expression Tails could see that the dragon was indeed sincere. "But is there anything else the crystal can do that Robotnik might be able to exploit?" he asked in a way that allowed Slasher to answer without having to reveal any specific information about the crystal if he chose to.

He let out another sigh. "We're still learning everything that the crystals can do as we go, but I sincerely doubt this Robotnik guy can use my crystal; the crystal's magic's are tied to me alone. No one else can use it's powers but me." Slasher admitted, shrugging his shoulders dismissively.

"Let's hope so; c'mon, it's not far now." Tails hoped, walking on towards the rotten city now visible off in the distance.

* * *

Back in Robotropolis… 

"How much longer must we wait?" Antoine grumbled as he paced back and forth inside the stairwell.

"Antoine, it's only been fifteen minutes since we got here." Rotor pointed out, covering his face in irritation.

"Oh, heh heh… pardon', ze suspense iz kelling moi." He apologized, laughing nervously, as he always did when he went on missions.

Suddenly a silent blinking light activated on Bunnie's arm. "Ya'll can relax Sugar 'Twan; that's tha signal."

"Oh, um m-maybe I should stay here, and uh, guard ze exit, no?" Antoine blabbered out nervously, those butterflies in his stomach suddenly feeling like elephants.

"No!" Bunnie and Rotor said in unison, each grabbing hold of one of Antoine's arms and dragging him out onto the roof.

"Oui, we must be brave." Antoine agreed, faking a courageous smile, oblivious to his two friends as they pulled him by the arms out onto the roof.

"Oh yes, noth'n say bravery like have'n yer friends drag ya ta trouble." Bunnie joked sarcastically as Rotor opened the door to the roof. Rotor pasued and peered out the open door way before waving his friends on. Now out in the open, Antoine stopped acting like a whimp and put his mind on the mission, his prior anxiety forgotten.

"Alright, we just gotta jump that there gap and we're halfway inside." Bunnie encouraged the small group pointing to the meter and a half gap separating their building from their target.

As a last minute check before committing the team to the task at hand, Rotor looked to his companions. "Okay, supply check: explosives…"

"Check…" Bunnie answered, patting the backpack filled with explosive charges Antoine had strapped to his back in confirmation.

"Detonator…"

"Check…" Bunnie confirmed again, this time patting a special panel Rotor had attached to Bunnie's arm specifically for this mission.

"Ropes…"

"Check…" Antoine acknowledged, pointing to the ropes hanging from his shoulder.

"Okay guys…" Rotor started, and in the time honoured tradition all three spoke the last part together. "Let's do it to it." completing the tradition with the Freedom Fighter's special handshake.

"I'll go first." Rotor announced, taking up a running start at the gap. The walrus easily cleared the jump, with surprisingly little effort. As soon as he hit the other roof and got to his feet, Rotor quickly found some cover near a massive ventilation unit.

"Right, behind ya, Sugar." Bunnie said calmly as she walked right up to the gap and extending her robotic legs, simply stepped over the wide gap. Then Antoine edged over towards the ledge of the building. As soon as he glanced down and saw how far the drop to the ground was he instantly jumped back. "Oh, come on, Antoine; we've done this sorta thing plenty before…" Bunnie gripped, folding her arms in irritation.

"Y-Y-yes… b-but no… I am now having ze double thoughts mes amies, m-m-maybe I should stand watch out here yes?" he whimpered, trying to sound like he wasn't acting out of fear. Bunnie didn't buy it however. Before Antoine could react, Bunnie stretched out her powerful mechanical arm and grabbed Antoine by his shirt collar and yanked him across the gap; releasing her grip on his shirt so that Antoine landed hard on his rump.

"Sank you Bunnie…" Antoine said, rubbing his rear end in pain.

"Anytime, Sugar…" Bunnie smiled warmly at the embarrassed coyote as he returned the gesture.

"C'mon, the skylight we're after is over here." Rotor stated, breaking up the moment.

The other two quickly snapped out of it and soon stood beside the walrus at the aforementioned skylight. "Alrighty, one rabbit hole: come'n up." Bunnie eagerly stated as she activated the small cutting laser in her arm.

"Hold up, Bunnie." Rotor warned, halting Bunnie before she could use the cutting laser. "Take a look, there's wires in this glass, and that means there's an alarm tied to it." Rotor explained in dismay.

"What? Ze reports said nothing of zis." Antoine added in annoyance and surprise.

"The intelligence must be outdated; Robotnik must have recently installed some new security here." Rotor grumbled dejectedly.

"Looky over yonder." Bunnie pointed out, directing the other two to what see was looking at. On another part of the roof sat a much larger skylight. Not wanting to pass up an opportunity the group ran over to it and took a look through a large pane of broken glass.

Rotor sighed in disappointment. "This is no good, the skylight is right over the factory floor."

"So? Let's not scrub the mission just yet." Bunnie suggested. "Some of these heah windows are busted, so Ah'm guessing they don't have any alarms working on them. We could still complete the mission by using this skylight."

"I don't know…" Rotor thought aloud as he looked over the wide open space below. "There's just too much open space for us to be spotted in, we'd be wide out in the open and an easy target."

"Yes, I am agreeing weeth Rotor, zis iz too much of ze gamble." Antoine agreed.

"Oh, c'mon, we can't just give up that easy…" Bunnie objected. "How's about Ah go in first and make sure the coast is clear. Then ya'll can join me as fast as ya can."

Rotor sighed heavily. "Alright, Bunnie, but if you have to take out any bots; be quiet or we'll have the entire guard force on our backs in no time." Rotor cautioned; praying things would work out.

"Be careful Mon Cheri." Antoine urged, feeling fearful for his friend.

Sitting on the edge of the Skylight Bunnie extended her robotic legs down to the floor. "Ah will Sugar." Bunnie replied softly before disappearing through the skylight opening.

* * *

Meanwhile in Robotnik's lab… 

"Sir, data scan at forty-five percent complete." Snively reported as they watched on with great interest.

"Bah, this is taking too long Snively, increase the power!" Robotnik bellowed.

"Yes, Sir." Snively replied pushing the control lever up to increase the scanner's output. As Snively observed the readings coming through on a monitor, Snively noticed some abnormal readings. Snively looked closer and double checked that he was reading this right, but the readings were indeed correct. "Robotnik, sir, I'm getting a very strange reading here." Snively stated, drawing Robotnik's attention.

"What is it you bumbling twit?" Robotnik asked, standing behind Snively's work station.

"It would appear the scanners are detecting some sort of energy anomaly. Because the crystal is transparent, the energy from the scanners we are using passes right through, and so we detect our own energy output'." Snively explained

"Yes, yes, I already know that, get to the point!" Robotnik growled, already knowing this from the numerous times they'd scanned Chaos Emerald and the like.

"Well, sir I'm getting two different power readings… When we scanned the Chaos Emeralds in the past we received two different energy signatures, one from the scanner equipment itself, and the second from the Chaos Emerald. These readings show that all we're picking up is our own energy signature. One reading shows the normal power level of the scanning equipment, but the second reading show that the energy passing though the crystal appears to be… stronger?" Snively explained, puzzled by his own revelation "The energy signatures are the same, in both samples. It's as if the crystal were focusing the energy waves to become more concentrated."

"Hmmm… interesting, continue with the scan, I want to…" Suddenly Robotnik's words are cut off by an alarm sounding off. "What!" Robotnik shouted in fury. He waddled over to a nearby console and switched the monitor on to display a Swat-bot. "What's going on Swat-bot?" Robotnik shouted.

"We have a security breach in facility 4-6-2, oh Elliptical one." The Swat-bot reported.

"Well send a full squad there immediately and stop those Freedom Fighter Immediately!" Robotnik ordered, switching off the console. "Bah, those Freedom Fighters can't stop me now... but why would they be attacking my personal stash of socks and underwear? Bah, I have no time for this right now." Just as Robotnik made it back and began to resume studying over the odd readings , another alarm sounded off. Robotnik whirled around and switched the console back on; instantly displaying the same Swat-bot from before. "Another-break-in-sir. This time in power station 0-4." The robot reported, promptly saluting.

"Well, send a security squad there as well!" Robotnik shouted, becoming infuriated by the constant interruptions.

* * *

Meanwhile, in an air-duct just above them… 

"Way ta go, Uncle Chuck." Sonic announced triumphantly as the two crouched figures finally reached their destination.

"Good thing Uncle Chuck's let us know Robotnik moved the crystal to this lab, otherwise, we'd have never found them." Agreed Sally, looking to her companion.

"It looks like we got ole' Blubber Bolts attention, Sal, so lets make our move already." Sonic insisted, watching the events below unfold through the air grill.

"Just wait Sonic, just a few more, then I think we'll be able to make our move." Sally replied, holding Sonic back from doing anything rash. Sally pulled out Nicole and held her up. "Okay Nicole, trigger another one…"

In reply to Sally's command, yet another alarm sounded off in the room below, resulting in Robotnik storming over to the console yet again to give out orders. "Another break-in, Swat-bot?" Robotnik asked, sarcastically.

"Yes, Oh Lord of Lard. What are your orders?" the Swat-bot asked. Robotnik snarled and ground his teeth together furiously at that remark. "_Bad enough the Princes managed to create a virus that halted his forces for weeks once, but to add insult to injury, she managed to corrupte all the recognition programs so that all of his robotic minions always addressed him with such offensive titles." _Robotnik grumbled in his mind, he had yet to figure out how to solve that problem and it was really starting to get on his nerves.

This made about the fifth alert tonight. "This is getting ridiculous, how many places can those meddlesome Freedom Fighters hit in one night! I'll tell you what to do, send out a full squad to every security breach now, and to any future ones as well, now stop interrupting my work!" Robotnik shouted so loudly, even the Swat-bot recoiled in surprise.

Sonic smiled in self-satisfaction knowing how much of a head-ache they were causing Robotnik. But Sally's grin looked much broader then Sonic's because Robotnik had just played into the palm of her hand. "Just what I wanted him to say." She chuckled, turning to face Sonic and explain what she meant. "Robotnik's ordered the Swat-bots to respond with full strength to every break-in." She explained to Sonic as she flipped open Nicole's screen again. "Nicole, trigger the next secruity system in ten minutes, then activate at randomly set intervals after that." She ordered to the tiny computer, then turned to Sonic. "We'll wait about twenty minutes to make sure the Swat-bots have time to get nice and spread out across the city.

"I get it, with his forces spread out all over the city…"

"He won't be able to completely overwhelm us." Sally smirked, finishing Sonic's sentence for him with a devious grin.

"I love it when you're sneaky…" Sonic grinned in appreciation for Sally's brilliant plan.

"I know…" she grinned back.

Sitting inside the air vent, Sally watched as Robotnik and Snively continued to work, oblivious to what was happening outside with his Swat-bot forces. She checked her watch and glanced over to the obviously bored Sonic. "Let's do it to it! She said, pumping her fist for emphasis

"Now yer talk'n my language!" Sonic agreed as he bashed his feet into the grill and jumped through to the room below with Sally quickly following suit. "Hey iron lips, guess who?"

"What?" Robotnik shouted as he looked up in surprise to see his arch enemies standing across the lab.

"We're here for that do-hicky; now hand it over and we won't have to colour your face black and blue!" the hedgehog threatened, shaking his fist in emphasis.

"Well… Hedgehog, if you want it, come and get it…" he goads, pressing a button on the control panel. Within seconds at least half a dozen Swat-bots storm into the lab though the main door behind Sally and Sonic and begin blasting away at the intruders.

The shooting forces Sally and Sonic to dive for cover behind some columns against the sides of the room. "Sonic, take them down!" Sally yells over the hail of laser fire.

"No sooner said then done Sal." Sonic replied, dashing out from behind cover and racing towards the hoard of menacing robots. Sonic curled himself into his famous spin dash and ploughed straight through the hulk of the first robot, still carrying enough force the smash into a second one. He didn't have the force to rip though the second like the first, but the force was sufficient to knock the Swat-bot backwards into a third one standing behind it.

No time to celebrate however as all the robots turned towards Sonic, laser's whining as they reached full charge. With all the Swat-bots focusing their attention on Sonic; Sally rushed forward, delivering a hard kick to the back of the closest machine she could find. Her kick sent the unprepared robot tumbling forward into one of it's counterparts. The sudden disturbance distracted the Swat-bots long enough for Sonic to rev up again and smash through another inattentive robot.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the air shaft…"We're getting closer…" Tails commented to no one in particular. 

While Tails had little difficulty making his way through the air duct, Slasher, being much larger then Tails, was having a much more difficult time of it. "Frankly I'm amazed you were still able to smell your friends at all with that stench out there." Slasher grumbled; coughing slightly to try and get the foul Robotropolis air out of his lungs. Luckily, the air inside the fortress was much more livable

Tails shrugged. "I hate to admit it, but I'm probably used to it." Suddenly a loud crash ahead of them causes both creatures to look up in wonder. "What was that?" Tails asked, already having a pretty good idea what it might be.

"Let's find out…" Slasher prompted, as both moved towards the air grate where the noise came from. The pair looked through the already opened grill and immediately their eyes bulge at the sight. Down below Sonic and Sally stand triumphantly amidst a large pile of scrapped robots, much to the disbelief of a certain egg-shaped dictator.

"Looks like they have this under control after all." Tails chuckled in amusment.

"I must say, you Freedom Fighters are persistent aren't you. But, I'm afraid I'm in the middle of something rather important right now and I'll have to ask you to leave…" Robotnik chortled as the door swished open, from which several more Swat-bots poured into the room, quickly surrounding the pair.

"Or maybe we arrived just in time." Slasher said as he leaped through the open air vent head first. He landed right on top of one of the machines and quickly jammed his extended blades into the top of the domed skull before leaping off. Tails followed suit and slammed both feet on top of a second machines head.

Sally and Sonic turned in surprise to see Tails and Slasher enter the fray, but no time for pleasantries, they need to attack these Swat-bots while they're still momentarily distracted. "What are you guys doing here?" Sally scolded as she with another bot.

"We're here to help…" Tails responded defencively as he ducked a sucker punch from one of the machines.

"You should be in Knothole where it's…" Sally replied, before the robot's halted. Sally looked over to Robotnik who had raised a gloved hand to halt his metal minions a moment.

"… Where it's safe… My, such sweet sentiments, but surely you must realize there is no place that is truly safe from me." Robotnik grinned with evil malice laced in his crooked grin.

"Remember me fatso!" Slasher shouted as he stared down Robotnik, holding his battle claws out to the sides menacingly. Slasher glared at the fat man with a look that would kill.

"Well, well… the lizard returns." Robotnik chuckled, unimpressed by Slasher's harsh tone.

"That's dragon to you creep and the name is Slasher!" he shouted back.

"Yes, you would be…" Robotnik nodded, still unimpressed.

"Enough of this Robotnik, hand over the crystal now!" Sally ordered with surprising authority.

"Oh, I'm afraid that's quite out of the question my dear. You see I have plans for that little bobble, and besides, my friends standing behind you don't take very kindly to veiled threats to their master." Robotnik replied, keeping a calm, controlled composure, unlike Snively who was cowering pitifully behind his fat uncle.

The Freedom Fighters all turn to see a large squad of robots, all sharing the same harsh, lifeless stare. "I'm sure the rampant break-in's are you're doing Princess, so I'm afraid I can't give you a proper greeting until my forces return." Robotnik explain, hinting some annoyance towards Sally.

The Freedom Fighters back away from the robot horde, forming a defensive circle formation, keeping their backs to each other and out of habit, Sonic and Sally pushed Tails towards the back of the group, as the mass of machines moved further into the room, some taking up position to the left and right of the smaller group. "Attack, my metal minions!" Robotnik bellowed, pointing a large finger menacingly towards his enemies.

With that every robot raised their weapons, ready to fire. Instantly, the four reacted, striking at the nearest Swat-bot before the slower thinking machines could react. Sonic leaped forward, driving both feet into the chest of one Swat-bot; kicking off the metal body to change his momentum as he curled himself into a ball; slicing off the head of a second one in the opposite direction.

Sally grabbed hold of an outstretched robotic arm and used a Judo flip to throw the much heavier opponent to the ground. The force of the fall caused all the machine's systems to seize up and shut down. Tails meanwhile, took to the air and delivered a hard spinning kick to the side of one of the dome-shaped head's of a Swat-bot, sending it crashing into one of the firing bots standing next to it.

Slasher ducked, barley dodging a laser blast and thrust his right arm's battle claws into the chest of the firing robot. The robot clanked and sputtered before falling with electricity sputtering out of the twin slices in its armour.

Slasher turned, slicing at yet another robot, this time across an outstretched arm that had been about to fire its laser weapon at Sally. His strike wasn't able to slice right through the arm, but it left two deep gashes that completely rendered the arm and the weapon unusable. A swift sweeping swing of his tail and the robot fell to the ground, before he used the same rolling move he used on Bunnie earlier to finish it off.

"Slasher, I thought I told you to stay in the village!" Sally shouted as she backed into Slasher's as they both fought.

"Guess I missed that part…" he shrugged with a smile.

Sally groaned, _"Just like Sonic…"_ she Threw out a hard side kick that landed square in a Swat-bots chest, as she silently thanked the heavens that being in this colse, the Swat-bots couldn't use their lasers. "I swear Slasher, between you and Sonic, my hair's going to turn gray at thirty."

"Worry about that later Sal, Slash, make for the crystal, we'll keep these tin cans busy!" Sonic interrupted, continuing his speedy destruction of Swat-bot after Swat-bot.

"Right!" Slasher confirmed, almost having forgotten about the crystal in the heat of the battle. He made a run for the glass cylinder where the crystal floated peacefully as fast as he could with his injured leg.

"Oh no you don't…" Robotnik growled, as he noticed Slasher make a break for the crystal. "Swat-bot, stop that meddlesome creature!" he ordered. One of the machines, on the outer edge of the fighting turned and pointed it's laser at Slasher. The arm moved slightly, allowing for the target's movement. If the machine could actually think enough to worry about collateral damage it would not have fired, since now Slasher was directly lined up with the crystal.

Slasher's leg began to throb in pain as he forced himself to run. As he drew nearer, Slasher could begin to feel the crystals energy start to flow through him, already feeling the familiar energy that seemed to fill that emptiness he had felt ever since he became separated from it. The gem started to faintly glow the closer Slasher drew to it. The strange aura of the crystal made him feel re-energized and his leg started to hurt less as well, but unfortunately he would not reach the gem in time to keep this feeling long.

"Slasher, look out!" Tails shouted, spotting what was about to happen and with the twirl of his tails, he launched himself forward, using his speed to knock Slasher to the floor just in time to avoid being struck in the back by the laser.

The laser whizzed past, just narrowly missing them, but shattered the glass cylinder the crystal floated in and struck the faceted surface of the unusual ruby gem. But instead of shattering like one might have expected; the gem actually seemed to absorb the laser; glowing a bright red from within before the shot came out the other side; all this happening far too fast for anyone to actually notice. The beam that emerged from the other side of the gem appeared much larger then when it first entered the crystal and when the laser struck the wall behind the scanning equipment it caused a violent explosion, melting right trough the thick metal wall; leaving a massive hole in the wall. The crystal meanwhile remained exactly where it was, as if nothing had ever happened.

The force of the blast created a shock wave that knocked everyone to the ground. Everyone stared at the damaged wall; even the Swat-bot that had fired the shot glanced between the hole and the laser attached to his arm in puzzlement.

Robotnik was the first to make a move switching on a miniature tractor beam built in his mechanical arm to pull the crystal away from Slasher at the last minute. "Swat-bots, please attend to our guests while I secure this little trinket.!" Robotnik shouted as he activated both an emergency hail to call more Swat-bot's to the area and opened an emergency escape hatch that both he and Snively jumped into; with the hatch sealing itself shut behind them. The remaining automatons moved to carry out their masters order as more entered to join their brethren.

Sally watched helplessly as Robotnik snatched away the crystal, and realized that with the crystal now gone, the mission was over and now time for them to make their escape. All at once the Swat-bots that just entered opened fire, not even really aiming as just shooting so as to create a curtain of laser fire to cover Robotnik's escape. The ones that had been knocked over by the blast rose and also joined in creating a hail of laser fire. All Sally could do was dive for cover, praying not to be hit by a stray blast. Sally was relieved to see that everyone else had managed to make it to cover, but now it looked like everyone else seemed to be in the same boat, completely pinned down by the sheer amount of fire power.

"_Great the crystals gone, there's no way to follow Robotnik, and no way we can fight our way out…" _ Sally quickly contemplated in her mind. She dared a glance around her piece of cover and quickly noticed that Tails and Slasher had been forced to take cover behind the cylinder shaped scanning system, very close to the hole in the wall. More importantly the blast had melted through the entire wall, leaving clear access to the adjoining room. She ducked her head back around as several shots zinged past where her head had just been and quickly spotted Sonic, pinned behind a nearby console.

"Sonic, we need a distraction!" She shouted over the laser fire. Sonic nodded in silent acknowledgement and quickly bolted from his hiding place to a spot in the room where the bots weren't focusing their fire power.

"Yo, rust bukets!" he shouted, attempting to draw their attention. It worked like a charm, the Swat-bots turned their fire power on to him, rather then where Slasher, Tails and Sally were hiding behind. Using the opportunity Sally leaped out from her cover and slide across the smooth metal floor to where Slasher and Tails were hiding.

Slasher noticed the lack of laser fire heading their way and started to rise up to charge when Sally came sliding in behind them and tugged at his arm to pull him back behind cover. "What are you doing, get back here!" She yelled sternly.

"Taking advantage of their distraction!" he replied simply, trying again to leave his cover and attack.

Again Sally pulled him back. "Are you nuts, you charge at them, and you won't last five seconds!"

"We can't just give up…"

"We have no choice. Slasher, listen to me, the mission's over, your crystal is gone and we can't fight an army of robots to get to it. We have to go, NOW!" she yelled back.

Shortly after Sally ran across to reach Tails and Slasher Sonic jumped back behind cover; no sense leaving yourself a target for no reason. From his hiding place he could see what the others were doing, and by the looks of it, Slasher looked like he was still intending to fight! Now Sonic could relate to how he felt, but even he knew it was time to make tracks.

"I'm not leaving without my crystal…!" He replied, glaring angrily at Sally.

"Oh yes you are…" She cut him off, looking past him to Tails. "Make a break for the hole in the wall, and try to find an escape route in there!" She told the young kit.

"I'm on it Sally." Tails answered back obediently; leaving Slasher with Sally.

"Fine you stay, I'll stay here and…"

"And what, get killed? There's no way you can fight through this mess, and even if you could, how would you find out where Robotnik has your crystal?" Sally interrupted, becoming frustrated with Slasher's stubborn attitude.

Slasher looked down at the floor he was lying on, at odds with his warriors pride and the sense Sally made. "We'll be back for it, I promise you." Sally reassured him, placing a hand gently on his shoulder.

Suddenly Tails reappeared at the edge of the hole in the wall. "Sally, the next room has some large air shafts across the ceiling that I think we can use to get out of here."

Sally nodded in Tails' direction. "Okay Slasher go, me and Sonic will be right behind you."

Slasher nodded, then reached into his pouch and pulled out several smoke bombs and placed them in Sally's hand. "You might need these." He explained, before leaving Sally to follow Tails to the next room.

Sally instantly caught onto Slasher's idea. She looked over to Sonic, and with a nod from both she rose into a kneeling position behind her piece of cover and slammed the smoke bombs to the floor. Within seconds the room was filled with thick grey smoke, obscuring the Swat-bots optics for a few precious seconds until they could automatically switch to their thermal sensors. But when they did, the targets were gone…

* * *

End Ch. 20… 

Whew, that was exciting! Man, sorry for taking so long to update but that's life. Oh, and sorry about making this chapter so much bigger then most of the others, I figured you were getting tired of being left on those annoying cliff-hangers by now. Next chapter we'll find out how the other mission turned out, and then this story takes a serious turn, and it may be for the worse… Secrets will be revealed questions will be answered, on both sides of the fight…


	21. Ch 21 From Bad to Worse

Alright, first off, I'd like to say I'm truly sorry for how long it took for me to post this update, but it's not entirely my fault either, my stupid computer crashed and the disk I put the back-up file on screwed up so I needed to start all over again and for the longest time was so bummed out that I could barely work up the motivation to rewrite it. That and I'd been wicked busy with school and now work. But that's hardly an excuse and considering the tremendous volume of hits I'm seeing I can see I need to get my ass in gear and start writing the rest of this thing soon. Anyways, enough of my ranting, lets carry on shall we?

* * *

**A Visitor From Afar**

**Ch 21 From Bad to Worse

* * *

**

Robotropolis, a foul city once a paradise of free minds that filled the streets with song and the sounds of everyday life, now the domain of war-machines and the factories that produce them. Inside the noisy confines of one such factory, a SWAT-bot manufacturing plant to be exact; three silhouetted figures move cautiously from shadow to shadow as they make their way across the factory floor. Peaking around the corner of one of the massive factory machines, the head of Rotor the Walrus appears. He glances around a moment; insuring there is no enemy presence. Now certain, he skulks his way along beside the machine, keeping his back pressed against the cold metallic surface.

Not long afterwards another head pokes around the side of the machinery, following the same routine as the walrus had done. As the figure moves from the shadow, it reveals the visibly shaking form of Antoine, nervously following Rotor. Right behind Antoine followed Bunnie. As she followed the others, she would check behind her to make certain nothing crept up behind them.

As Rotor reached the end of the machinery he moved beneath the conveyor belt at the end of the equipment; using the web of supports and dark shadow to hide himself from view. The other two entered right behind him and huddled close together as Rotor started to speak. "Okay guys, lets take a sec to catch our breathe." He stated as he to tried to calm himself.

"I am surprised to zee zo few guards about oui?" Antoine pointed out as he calmed himself down enough to speak clearly.

"That's probably cause Sally's plan is working. They must have had to draw some forces away to deal with all the fake break-in's." Rotor explained. "Alright, down to business… See that machinery over there?" He asked, pointing a finger across the large open space of the factory floor to a massive machine that assembled the SWAT-bots. "That's our secondary objective. If we can't hit the factories mainframe computer we'll try to take that out."

"Why do we not just plant ze bombs on zis machine while we are here now?" Antoine asked, scratching his head.

"No, you heard Sally, we only have a limited number of explosives, and we don't know how much explosives will be needed to destroy either target." Rotor explained. "And personally I want to make sure that whatever we hit completely destroyed. Leave nothing behind for Robotnik to salvage or repair."

"Ah just don't see why we don't plant the bombs on this one heah and be done wit it" added, pointing at the heavy machinery across the floor.

"Because Bunnie. Sure if we take out the machinery it will disable this factory; but if we can take out the computer hub that will cripple the whole factory, not just the assembly line. The hub controls all the automated machines that supply and assemble the machinery. Without it the factory will be out of action much longer because it will that harder to replace." Rotor explained calmly.

"Fair enough, Sugar…" Bunnie nodded in agreement. "So, Sugar, which way ta the hub?"

Rotor scratched his head for a moment. "Um, the skylight we were originally going to get in through would have put us right next to hub room, so if memory serves me right… it should beeee… that way! C'mon."

With that everyone headed towards a metal staircase that led to the catwalk above. Bunnie took point once they reached the stairs, cautiously moving up one step at a time till she could just see over the final stair. All clear.

She waved her friends forwards as she kept watch. _"So far, so good, let's just hope our luck holds out…"_ Rotor thought as he and his friends made their way to the computer hub.

* * *

Meanwhile…

Within Robotnik's massive fortress an almost forgotten room inside the base came to life, activated by a source unknown. The diminutive room could hardly be considered of a serious importance; harboring a sparse collection of instruments and equipment inside. The room hadn't been used in so long that dust had already collected on the various surfaces.

Suddenly, along one of the very mundane looking walls, a circular hole opened up, allowing the equally circular figure of Dr. Robotnik to slide in from the exit of his secret escape chute, with Snively bouncing along behind him; landing flat on his face. "Well that was most amusing, wouldn't you agree Snively?" Robotnik chuckled as he picked himself off the floor.

"Oof!" Snively groaned as he hit the floor. "I would hardly call that amusing, Sir." Snively grumbled as he picked himself off the floor and proceeded to dust off his clothes. "Sir, with all respect, if you could have grabbed the crystal like that any time you pleased, why on Mobius didn't you do it before?" He asked, he voice hinting the irritation the smaller assistant felt.

"Come now Snively, do you actually belief I would truly leave myself so vulnerable?" Robotnik replied waving his hand dismissively at the idea. "And besides…" he continued as he tossed the strange ruby gem up and down in his cold metallic hand. "By remaining as we did, we may have just uncovered one of this crystal's abilities."

"Do you honestly believe that crystal had anything to do with that explosion?" Snively asked, holding his arms out in disbelief. "Just the idea of some bizarre little gem doing that is simply preposterous!"

"Come now Snively don't the Chaos Emeralds prove such things are possible, but if I must once again prove I'm right, very well." Robotnik responded, turning to a small bank of computers on the wall. "Computer playback security recordings L54 to L 67."

As requested the computer displayed the footage of the crystal floating inside the glass scanner casing. Then Slasher started to emerge from the bottom right of the screen, moving in slow motion. Robotnik noticed that as the reptile drew closer to the crystal it began to glow brighter until the crystal appeared like little more then a tiny white spot in the grainy black and white picture.

Suddenly Tails leapt in from off screen and tackled Slasher to the ground just in time as a bright laser beam flashed over their heads. The shot shattered the glass surrounding the crystal and struck the faceted surface of the gemstone, causing the light emanated from the jewel to increase several times what it was before. Then next thing the two observers could determine would be that a blast of energy erupted from the other side of the gem, many times more powerful then the original laser. The resulting blast of energy then struck the opposite wall and created an explosion so massive it shook the camera out of focus for a moment or two. When the camera recovered from the shock waves it displayed the massive hole they'd seen only moments ago, and the crystal on the other hand seemed to be completely unaffected by the laser as it hovered in the exact place it had before; like nothing ever happened.

Robotnik ran a finger through his thick moustache in thought. "You see Snively, that crystal had a direct hand in the blast."

Snively looked on, still skeptical. "But Sir, any number of factors could have played into the cause. Perhaps the SWAT-bot had its laser set to maximum, maybe the scanner caused some-"

"NO, you bumbling fool. I designed and created every possible thing that might have caused that blast, and I know for a fact none of my machines could have caused such a thing." Robotnik growled. "Now, go and fetch the blood sample that creature, oh, whatever he called himself, so generously donated to us while he lay unconscious on the torture rack and bring it to my private lab at once." He ordered as he began to get a sly grin forming on his face.

Snively on the other hand looked at Robotnik with an expression that relayed his confusion. "What the devil for, Sir?"

"I'm beginning to hatch a plan dear Snively, a cunning, ruthless plan…" He sneered as he let out a bout of maniacal laughter.

* * *

Meanwhile back at the SWAT-bot factory…

Antoine popped his head around the corner for what must have been the fourth time as he kept watch. Meanwhile Rotor worked feverishly at his code breaker, trying to unlock the door that would lead to the computer hub room. "Can you not work faster mon ami?" Antoine grumbled as the anxiety grew.

"He's working as fast as he can Sugar 'Twan, now get grip'n and keep watch." Bunnie barked back, obviously even she was feeling on edge as well.

"Not helping guys…" Rotor said as he entered in a few other codes. "Got it!" He exclaimed in triumph. "Okay guys, let's go." He stated as he motioned everyone to the door.

Just as everyone reached the door and moved to enter, the door swished open on its own; revealing the hulking for of a SWAT-bot. If it were possibly for the mechanized unit to show expression it likely would have shared the surprised look of the Freedom Fighters gathered around the door.

"Alert! Freedom Fight-" The SWAT-bot started to say at high volume, but before the robot could finish it's sentence, Bunnie's extending metal arm smashed through the SWAT-bots domed head. That didn't stop the other SWAT-bots sitting at their work stations from rising from their stations and begin opening fire on the doorway.

"Run for it!" Rotor screamed as he joined his comrades in running back down the same hallway they came from. Two of the Swat-bots raced out the door and pursued the intruders, firing their lasers any chance they got.

The last SWAT-bot of the three out the door paused a moment and activated its internal radio. "Alert, Freedom-Fighters detected in factory complex O-193. Require immediate support." The machine reported before switching off its radio and raced down the hallway to assist it's comrades.

At the catwalk, Antoine and Rotor quickly made their way down the stairs and bolted for cover amongst the numerous large pieces of machinery. Bunnie, meanwhile ran down a few of the steps and turned around to fire several shots back at the pursuing SWAT-bots. Two shots connected with the first SWAT-bot as it dropped to the ground. The next one stepped over its fallen brother and fired repeatedly, forcing Bunnie to abandon her position.

When she got down the stairs she leapt behind some cover, joining Antoine and Rotor just as several lasers whizzed past, some fired by the SWAT-bot still on the catwalk. "C'mon, we gotta set the charges on the secondary!" Rotor shouted, as he pulled Antoine with him. Antoine may have objected, but with all the gunfire, this wasn't the best place to argue about it; and he knew it.

She glanced behind her to see Rotor and Antoine making a bee-line across the wide open space between them and the large machine Rotor mentioned as their secondary objective. "Rota'! Wait!" She shouted, holding her arm out as if she could pull them back. "Dag-nabit!" Bunnie cursed as she realized they hadn't heard her. Things were too dangerous now to worry about completing the mission, they needed to get out of here now, or they're as good as dead!

But, Bunnie wasn't about to abandon her closest friends now, so after firing a few shots towards the approaching SWAT-bots, she took off after them. But suddenly another squad of five SWAT-bots round the opposite corner of the machinery they were dashing for.

The SWAT-bots fired on sight at the Freedom Fighters, forcing Rotor and Antoine to take cover behind a series of machines on the opposite side of their target. Bunnie quickens her pace as she spots them and barely makes it safely behind cover as the shots strike the machinery all around. Bunnie glanced around the side of the cover provided by a large steel pipe to take in the situation.

From their location, they'd need to bolt across open ground a short distance, in plain view of the SWAT-bots that have taken up a position on the opposite side of the target, in order to plant their explosives. The target itself was very long and flat on the sides and provided no cover at all; which meant they'd either have to take out all the SWAT-bots before they could plant the charges or they'd have to run back and forth planting a few explosives at a time.

Bunnie looks over to her left to see that Rotor and Antoine were right next to her. "This is kind of a bad time ta be worry'n 'bout that Rota-hun…" She said to him snidely, nodding her head at the detonation packs they were removing from Antoine's pack.

The first two SWAT-bots join their comrades and prepare to move in and capture the Freedom Fighters. As Bunnie pokes her head out from around the corner she spots the SWAT-bots advancing past the line of machinery across the way. So, she fires numerous shots at them to try and discourage them.

Two SWAT-bots are struck by Bunnies shots and one goes down. The immediate response is the SWAT-bots move back up under the fire and take up firing positions, waiting for the Freedom Fighters to emerge. Every so often Bunnie would pop out from cover and fire a few shots, and the SWAT-bots returned fire; both sides looking like gophers as each side popped up from behind cover, fired a few shots and ducked as the other did the same.

"We have to finish the mission Bunnie…" Rotor replied as he continued to prep the explosives. "Just cover me while I set the charges!" he added, holding up a charge in preparation.

Bunnie sighed in defeat and wheeled around the corner and began firing relentlessly at the SWAT-bot's position. While the SWAT-bots took cover, Rotor rose and slapped on the magnetic explosive to the side of the machine, pressing a few buttons to prime the device.

When the charge beeped to acknowledge it was primed, Rotor raced behind cover. As he did so, several SWAT-bots opened fire. Bunnie jumped in front of the shots and activated her personal energy shield. All three, high-power lasers struck the translucent shield causing it to shimmer violently as it absorbed the impact. She then quickly dove back behind her cover, switching off her shield as she did so.

Bunnie paused a moment, her chest heaving as she panted hard, sweat pooling in her fur. "Rota, Ah can't keep this up foah ever!" Her words couldn't be truer as the energy meter on her bionic arm read nearly empty. Once her auxiliary power ran out her arm would be all but useless. The arm would still be able to operate on her bio-kinetic energy, so she would not motion lose in her arm, but all of her weapon, and all her other special features would be gone.

"Try and hold them off for a few more minutes Bunnie!" Rotor shouted, bolting from cover once more to plant another charge. Bunnie huffed angrily at the stubborn walrus, but did as he asked and fired on the SWAT-bots, hoping to buy him some time.

Just as Rotor slapped the charge onto the machinery and prime the explosive and started to run back to where Bunnie and Antoine were hiding, a SWAT-bot popped up from cover and took careful aim, ignoring Bunnie's suppressive fire and fired. The shot struck Rotor's right shoulder, just next to the shoulder blade. Rotor screamed in pain as he fell to the floor, clutching his wound.

Bunnie and Antoine's eyes bulged in shock and horror. A momentary fury rose in Bunnie as she extended her bionic arm and fired her pulse cannon at the SWAT-bot that shot Rotor. The shot hit dead on, blasting the dome-shaped head clean off its shoulders.

"C'mon Sugar-Twan!" Bunnie shouted as she ran from cover to her fallen comrade. Without a moment's hesitation Antoine raced after Bunnie, his own personal fears forgotten to his greater concern for his friend. Bunnie ran out from cover and stood in front of her fallen comrade, activating her energy shield again.

"See what happens when you anger an organic female, 3-5-4-8-2?" One of the SWAT-bots stated to its comrade as it examined the . "Your AI routine needs maintenance 0-9-4-7. You're cracking jokes again." Another replied.

Just as the SWAT-bot that had hit Rotor was struck down, the SWAT-bot that sent the earlier call for assistance receives a call on its radio. "Reinforcements scattered across city. Unable to deploy reinforcements as swiftly as necessary." The SWAT-bot on the other end said.

"Understood." The SWAT-bot answered, switching off its radio once again. The computer then began to process the situation in seconds: _"COMMAND PROTOCOL: capture Freedom Fighters – PRORITY ONE. SELF-PRESERVATION OVER-RIDE: insufficient forces to capture Freedom Fighters. Reinforcements unavailable. RECOMMENDED ACTION: prevent escape until reinforcements arrive. ACTION APPROVE: EXECUTE!"_

"Assume, support fire formation, fire at will." The SWAT-bot ordered just as Bunnie and Antoine made their move to help Rotor.

All at once the robots ran into the open and formed two rows, one row behind the other. The first line dropped to one knee and began firing non-stop at the Freedom Fighter's position until their weapons needed to stop and cool down and recharge. Then the second line fired in the same fashion until they too needed to recharge and cool. They repeated this pattern, keeping a constant spray of fire on the enemy.

Bunnie strained and grunted as she tried to keep herself from being knocked over by the force and sheer number of the laser impacts on her shimmering pink shield. "Time to go Mes Amies!" Antoine shouted as he reached Rotor's prone form. He grabbed his other shoulder and helped Rotor to his feet and While Bunnie used her shield to block the incoming laser fire, Antoine rushed out to Rotor and quickly helped the injured walrus to his feet. A warning beep sounded off from Bunnie's arm, indicating her energy reserves were fading fast under this relentless hail of fire. She glanced behind her and spotted Rotor and Antoine were nearly to cover.

With that, she deactivated her shield and shrieked as a stray blast hit the ground just at her feet. She didn't need anymore encouragement then that as she raced back to the machinery and dove behind cover.

"Ugh… Thanks guys…" Rotor groaned weakly as he rested his good shoulder against the metal bulkhead while Antoine pulled out a small medical kit and proceeded to wrap his wound in gaze and bandages. "I'm sorry for getting us into this mess, you guys. You were right, it's too dangerous now…"

"Don't start talk'n like that Rota'-hun, we aren't cooked yet." Bunnie stated confidently, her voice hiding any trace of her own self-doubts.

"Ya, but how, your batteries are nearly empty, you can't hold them off by yourself?" Rotor stated, pointing his finger to the flashing power indicator warning light.

"Then we'll just have ta improvise…" She replied as her eyes narrowed. Her voice may be full f confidence and bravado, but in truth, she didn't have any clue as to how they could get out of this mess.

But then Antoine piped up with a brilliant idea. "Wait, Madame, ze explosives!" He exclaimed in surprise at the brilliance of his own idea. He ripped his backpack off his shoulders and opened it up and began to activate every single one of them. He then carefully glanced over the top of the pipe to gauge where the SWAT-bots were.

"When I zay now, push ze button." He explained as he closed up the bag. Bunnie looked at him confused as she watched him work with the explosives, but then glanced at he small display and watched as lights activated on her screen to indicate her detonator was receiving a good signal from each bomb as they were set.

She suddenly caught Antoine's drift and nodded she understood. Rotor on the other hand was still out of the loop. "What button, what are you guys talking about?" He asked shaking his head in confusion. But rather then answering, Antoine opted to show him. He quickly stood up and hurled the bag filled with explosives and ducked back down as shots ripped through the air he'd momentarily occupied.

The pack fell right at the SWAT-bots feet, but they hardly paid any mind to it as they continued to pour on the firepower. "NOW!" Antoine hollered as popped his head back over the metal pipe to see if the bag landed where it was supposed to.

"Fire in the hole!" Bunnie shouted as she pressed the detonation button on her control panel. All at once the pack irrupts in a massive ball of flame and smoke. The SWAT-bots standing nearby were incinerated immediately, leaving little then a pile of scrap parts scattered across the floor.

"Let's go!" Bunnie shouted, grabbing Rotor and helped him to run below the skylight above. Just as Antoine caught up, more SWAT-bots came running around the corner of the machinery. "Here zey come again!" Antoine shrieked in fear.

"Hold tight Sugars!" Bunnie said as she held out her real hand to Antoine. He grabbed hold and held tight as Bunnie activated the jet boosters on the bottom of her feet. The force of the powerful mini rockets propelled all three Freedom Fighters through the open skylight windows and out.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in Robotnik's head quarters…

Robotnik chuckled wickedly as he carefully scrutinized the set-up of his latest experiment. On one end of the table sat a small, low powered laser assembly aimed at the crystal which he had fastened to the table with a metal ring. On the opposite side of the crystal sat a small, target that, if what if all went to his expectations would prove his hypothesis. The target was already singed slightly from his earlier test to see how powerful the tiny laser was o its own. He carefully twisted the crystal in its fastening to ensure the facetted face of the crystal pointed at the laser.

"And now we shall see what we shall see…" Robotnik stated as he stepped behind the laser rig and moved his hand slowly to the firing button. The shot flew across the table and passed through the crystal far too fast for Robotnik to see with his own eyes, but the results were plainly visible on the target. He checked the target and immediately saw the impact was far more powerful then the first test, leaving a very large blackened scorch mark on the target surface.

"Hmm… not quite the reaction I'd hoped for, but still… It does prove one thing, the crystal can increase the power of whatever energy passes through it." Robotnik mumbled to himself as he scratched his chin in thought. He then turned to another table in the lab, and reached for a nearly empty rack of vials-empty test tube rack and plucked up a vile that held a thick red fluid.

"And now… for the final test…" He stated flatly as he carefully placed the vile of blood next to the gem; marveling at how the crystal started to faintly glow as he brought the sample closer. The gem didn't seem to glow as brightly as it had before, but Robotnik chocked that up to the greater quantity of DNA present.

He placed a protective shield in front of the vile of blood, just in case. He then stepped back around behind the small laser and readied himself. Then with the press of a bloated finger the laser fired. The laser ripped across the room faster then the blink of an eye, but already the curious expression on Robotnik's face grew to a broad grin of satisfaction. For the target across the table wasn't just singed, it was completely gone; and the laser blast still had enough energy to melt a small dent in the opposite wall.

"Excellent!" The fiendish doctor gloated evilly as he rubbed his hands together. "Not quite as powerful as I'd hoped for, but this certainly proves my original theory. This crystal does seem to have some sort of tie to the loathsome creature, uh… Slicer, or, Slasher or something…" he muttered as he tried to remember what Slasher had called himself before

Robotnik shook his head, bringing himself back to reality. "Bah, no matter." He then plucked the stone from its fastening on the table and took a closer look at the gem. "The important thing is that this crystal seems to indeed possess the ability to amplify the power output of whatever energy passes through it, most interesting…" he mused, as he plucked the gem from its fastening to take a closer look; rubbing his chin with his other hand as he did.

As he stared at the gem he noticed in the gems reflection the table still draped in the heavy white sheet. "Hmm… I wonder…" He muttered as he turned to the table and walked over to it. He places the crystal aside for the moment as he drew back the sheet just enough to allow him access to the chest area of body shaped form that lay beneath the sheets.

He swiftly sets to work opening the chest plate, exposing the internal skeleton of ribs that gave the metal armour its strength, as well as exposing the cluttered complexity of the machinery within. He pushed his way past the jumble of wires and servo motors till he reached what he sought.

He carefully opened the cylindrical shaped power unit and set the crystal inside hollow cavity of the power unit. He then moved the vile next to the power core, and smiled as he saw the shielding of the core did not stop the crystal from reacting to the blood sample.

He closed up the power core and walked over to a large recessed control panel along the wall. "And now my new minion, with the power of that crystal to super charge your systems, you shall be even more powerful then I ever dreamed…" he beams as he grasps a large lever on the control panel and pulls it down. The electricity unleashed races through the cables on the table to what lay under the sheets and suges through the power core.

A brilliant light erupts from the still open chest, causing Robotnik to shield his eyes a moment. He raises the lever, killing the power flow to his creation for fear something had gone wrong. He rushes over to table, still puzzled by what had happened. As he peered into the chest, he gasped in complete shock from what he beheld.

The exterior of the machine, from what he could see of it at least, where previously consisted of rigid facets to form the shape, now was very smooth, curves. The chest cavity itself had also changed, drastically. Wires that previously lay wherever in the chest now seemed to be melded with the metal skin of the chest cavity, running like blood vessels across the surfaces. All the ribs that previously looked clearly artificial now resembled a more natural form.

"Utterly fascinating…" he whispered to himself, still reeling from the shock. "I hardly even recognize this as my own creation. But just how much has changed, I wonder…?" He pondered as he gazed at all the components he could see. "Perhaps its time then I gave my new creation a… field test…" He glowered, already concocting a devious idea.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the borders of the Great Forest…

The small band of Freedom Fighters walked silently through the brisk evening air. The group had been completely quiet the whole trip across the desert that separated Robotropolis from the Great Forest. And Sally; had been especially quiet up to this point. Everyone, especially Slasher could feel the negative vibs coming from the steamed princess and thus, an awkward silence fell upon the group.

Sonic knew that this was very out of character for her. Normally he and Sally would be arguing over Sonic's unnecessary risk taking, or Sonic would be bugging her about moving too slowly. He could see that something was bothering her. "Yo, uh… Sal, what's with the ole silent treatment?" He asked, hoping that Sally wouldn't blow up or something.

Suddenly, Sally stopped dead in her tracks, stomping a booted foot down as she spun on her heels to emphasis her point; arms folded across her chest, causing the whole group to halt in surprise. "Why should I be mad?" She growled in a blatantly sarcastic manner. "I only trusted a complete stranger just to have him toss it back in my face!"

"What are you talking about Sal?" Sonic asked, speaking for every confused person there.

"Look Princess, if this is about us coming after you; it was my idea, not Tails." Slasher said, pointing to himself as he stepped forward to take the inevitable tongue lashing. "And I would do it again, it's my crystal, my problem. I'm not just going to stand by and let others fight **my **battles."

Sally sighed and unfolded her arms that were still in front of her chest and placed them on her hips. "I know." Sally stated plainly. She paused a moment as she contemplated her next words. "You're a lot like Sonic that way; and as much as I'd like too, I can't hold that against you; however annoying that may be." She added with a note of irritation in that there was nothing she could do about it. "All things considered, it's a good thing you guys did show up; we barely got out of there even with your help." She admitted, her expression softening a little.

"Then what's the big deal, Sal?" Sonic exclaimed, throwing his arms above his head in exasperation.

"What's '**bugging'** me Sonic, is that you lied to us about that crystal, Slasher. You never told us that your crystal could do anything like what it did back there!" She growled softly.

Slasher's expression hardened in response to Sally's accusations. "Hey! I didn't lie about a thing!" He groused angrily before catching himself and relaxed his expression. "I already told you, I'm still learning how to use it! That's the first time I've ever seen it do something like that! And besides, where I come from my enemies don't shoot beams of light at me, so how the heck could I know something like that could happen!"

"Wait… I don't ever recall you ever telling us that you're still learning how to use the crystal." Sally pondered aloud.

Slasher and Tails suddenly realized simultaneously that he'd just said too much. Tails let out a deep sigh and stepped in front of Slasher. "He told **me**, Aunt Sally…" He answered meekly, his ears folded against his head sadly.

This caught Sally totally by surprise. "You? But… but, why didn't you say anything?" She asked in disbelief.

Tails stared at the ground feeling awful guilty about keeping a secret from her. "Well, beca-"

"And for that matter, what happened to the bandages on your leg, Tails?" Sally added, interrupting Tails before he could try and explain himself.

Tails stammered to try and think of some kind of explanation. He couldn't just say the Ancient Walkers had healed him; because he knew that would mean revealing his vision the Ancient Walkers had given him. And he knew Sally knew that the Ancient Walkers only appeared under very extreme circumstances. That would draw more unwanted questions.

Suddenly a golden retriever ran from the darkness, towards the group, a relieved look on his face. "Princess, thank goodness I found you. There's a message for you back at Knothole. Dr. Quack says its really important. Bad news by the sounds of it I'm afraid." He stated, slightly exasperated. "He said that you should get over there as soon as possible."

Sally let nodded, forgetting about the topic at hand for the moment. "Alright. we'll be right there…" Sally replied, placing one of her hands on her forehead. "We'll finish this talk later at the medical center; wait for us there."

On the one hand, Tails was relieved he wouldn't need to reveal the knowledge he'd learnt from the Ancient Walkers, but at the same time, he knew Sally would ask about his miraculous healing sooner or later. So he'd best decide how to explain the Ancient Walkers intervention while keeping Slasher's secret just that.

"Why are all of us going to the medical center?" Slasher asked in uncertainty.

"Don't sweat it Slash, its standard procedure… in case we got injured but never noticed." Sonic explained as he patted Slasher on the back reassuringly. To Slasher's surprise, he hardly felt any pain at all from the gashes on his back. _The crystal must have reacted to my presence; perhaps that's why that laser blast became so strong…_

Of course no one noticed this but Slasher, so everyone continued on without him as he took note of this. He suddenly realized everyone else had continued without him so he rushed to catch up with them.

Sally and the Golden Retriever rushed ahead, trying to reach the village as fast as possible. Slasher and Tails took a more relaxed pace and before long they reached one of the secret entrances. A few minutes later the small group exited the cliff-side entrance and soon found themselves at the hospital after a brief walk through the darkened village. The lights inside the hospital shone out through the glass vestibule, illuminating the waiting Dr. Quack.

"Ah, there you are…" Dr. Quack greeted, waving his feathered hand as the group entered the lit area near the doors. "Sally said you'd be right behind her."

"She's at the reception desk getting her message now." He added as he led the group inside and past Sally who was standing at the reception desk like Dr. Quack had indicated, holding a phone to her ear. "If the rest of you would like to follow me, we'll get you all checked out quickly and let you on your way. Sally will join us once she's finished."

With that Sonic and the rest followed Dr. Quack down the hallway to the examination room. Sally held the phone to her ear, listening carefully to what the voice said on the other end. By the way Sally's face turned from a stern expression to a frown and then finally to shock, one could guess it was bad news.

Looking back, Sonic could plainly see the distraught expression on Sally's face, and as much as he wanted to go over to her and ask what happened, he knew he should let her be the one to tell him.

* * *

Back in Robotropolis…

Snively stomped his foot impatiently as he waited outside the doorway to Robotnik's main lab. "Scan this, Snively. Stay out of the lab Snively. Fetch the blood sample, Snively. Fetch some SWAT-bots, Snively." He grumbled bitterly as he paced back and forth in front of the labs door. Behind Snively stood a small contingent of SWAT-bots standing silently whilst the tiny human grumbled and griped in front of them.

"What's so special about what he's doing in there, that he can't even give me a hint of what he's doing in there? Even after he tells me to bring a squad of SWAt-bots to the lab, he still won't open the lab up!" Snively gripped in frustration.

Then, much to the minions' surprise the lab's heavy metal doors slid aside, revealing a pitch black lab beyond. Snively narrowed his eyes to try and see into the dark laboratory, but the darkness proved too much. "Dr. Robotnik? Are you there?" He asked, as sweat started forming on his forehead; his voice starting to quiver with anxiety.

No answer from within the pitch black room. "SWAT-bot, go in there and investigate." Snively ordered. As instructed on of the large robots marched forward into the room. Before entering the murky darkness, the SWAT-bot switched on a small flashlight built into one of its fingers.

Snively watched with a growing anxiety as the SWAT-bot waved the tiny beam around the room. Thus far the objects the beam illuminated were mundane over all. The light slowly moved across several tables before passing over one particular table; one with a white clothe laying in a discarded manner across it. Had Snively been able to see past the SWAT-bot, he might have seen this, and realized the significance of this. But because the SWAT-bot inside blocked his view of the table, the machine thoug ing beyond the beam. Suddenly, some slight motion at the right-most edge of the searching light caught Snively's eye. And the SWAT-bot seemed to notice this as well as it raised its right arm and began to fire its laser into the inky darkness.

The harsh bright light of the laser filled the room for a brief second. Snively could see several more flashes of laser fire within the darkness before he heard the ear-twitching sound of metal scraping against metal followed by the sound of something heavy crashing to the floor. Suddenly, the SWAT-bots decapitated, dome-shaped head rolled out from the darkness, before falling over like a lost hub-cap.

Snively trembled in fear, sweat streaming off his bald head like he were in a sauna, as his mind went wild with what might have done this with such ease. "Well, don't just stand there, go in and find out what happened in there!" Snively ordered to the three remaining SWAT-bots.

The SWAT-bots looked at each other, as if deciding amongst themselves which one of them would go in next. The bot closest to the door eventually started marching towards the dark doorway. Just as the SWAT-bot reached the dark threshold of the door something leaped out of the darkness at the SWAT-bot attempting to enter the room. And before the SWAT-bot could react, a loud piercing noise broke the uneasy silence of the hallway.

The SWAT-bot remained standing for a moment, before falling limply to the side in a massive, sparking heap. Snively's eyes bulged out of his head from fear and terror when he saw the terrifying-looking robot standing before him. "SWAT-bots! Destroy that… that, **whatever **it is!" Snively shrieked out in terror as the mechanical menace turned its gaze on him.

As one the two remaining SWAT-bots turned and fired their lasers on the unusual robot intruder. But the mysterious robot moved to swiftly, leaping above the laser shots before crashing its metal feet into one of SWAT-bots head. It then followed up by driving a long metal sword into the SWAT-bot as it fell to the floor.

Snively watched in horrified awe at the speed and efficiency the attacker fought with. Beyond anything he'd ever seen before. It's swift movement and Snively's terrified state of mine prevented Snively from taking a very close, detailed observation of the attacker as well. Even the Metal Sonic's had lacked such fighting prowess, especially with such an ancient weapon.

But as he watched he suddenly realized the last of the SWAT-bots fell to the floor with a great crash. And then the robot fixed its terrible gaze upon the trembling human once again. Snively nearly screamed as he turned to run down the hallway.

But the robot was too fast it leapt forward, easily closing the distance between the two before Snively managed to take more the two steps. It swung a heavy arm backhanding Snively on his right shoulder and sending him crashing into the left wall of the hallway.

Snively groaned and rolled onto his back, still dazed as to what just hit him. Then, he felt a slight pressure at his neck. He looked down in horror to see the very tip of the robot's long sword hovering motionless just above his voice box. Snively started sweating uncontrollably as his eyes traced up the length of the sword, to see the large robot poised to stab the blade right through his neck. It was then, as he stared at the face of his assailant, that Snively came to realize just what this thing was. And then the sword lunged forward. The sound of the sword striking the metal of the wall resonated down the hall, leaving behind an eerie silence….

* * *

End Ch. 21

DUM DUM Dummmm….

Wow… sorry once again to leave you waiting for this chapter for so freakin' long and on a cliffhanger no less. But with any luck, now I'll have more time for writing now that school is finished. So, what do ya think of this chapter? Please read & review and tell me!


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